Ethnobotany of Desert Plants

Every year my folks and I make our annual spring trip to Southern California. We love getting together, and heading out into the desert to look for flowers. This year, I decided to learn more about how American natives (and later settlers) used the plants in everyday life.

	Agave (Agave deserti) The leaves, stalks, and blooms were eaten. Thorns were used as awls. Fibers were used to make sandals, skirts, mats, cords, bowstrings, and snares.
	Barrel Cactus (Enchinocactus acanthodes) The flesh was stewed to make a cabbage-like soup, and the pulp was made into candy. Water could be extracted from the pulp. Spines were fashioned into fish hooks.
	Brittle Bush (Encelia farinosa) The clear resin secreted from the brittle bush stem was used as a glue, and as a gum. The resin was ground into a paste, and used as a toothpaste. The paste was also sprinkled on sores or heated and spread on the body to relieve pain. Spanish missionaries burned the resin as incense.
	Creosote Bush (Larrea tridentata) The leaves were used as antiseptics, which destroy germs; and as emetics, which induce vomiting to clear poisons from the body.
	Honey Mesquite, or Screwbean Mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) The blooms and green bean pods were ground to extract juice, and the dried bean pods were ground to produce flour.
	Jojoba (Simmodsia chinensis) Oil was extracted from the seeds, and used to treat sores and wounds.
	Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia) The rope-like centers from the tree limbs were used as canisters for nuts and berries. Settlers used the tree to make paper, as splints, for fence posts, and roasted as a sugary treat.
	Oak (Quercus spp.) Acorns were soaked and ground into meal, and used for food.
	Palo Verde (Parkinsonia floridum) Seeds were ground into flour for food, and used to make necklaces. A red dye was made from the flowers.
	Yucca (Yucca ssp.) The fruit pods were eaten for food. Fibers were used for making string, rope, nets, paint brushes, and sandals. The roots were used as soap.

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Learn more:

• Blue Planet Biomes Web Site, the Desert Plant page: http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/desert_plant_page.htm 
• Lowell and Diana Lindsay. The Anza-Borrego Desert Region: A Guide to the State Park and the Adjacent Areas.  Berkeley, California: Wilderness Press, 1978. (Reprinted in 2006, 5th editions).
• New! Dr. Kevin Curran. Ethnobotanist Web Site, the Southern California Ethnobotany: Historical Use of Native Plants page: http://www.ethnoherbalist.com/southern-california-native-plants-medicinal/

Plants of Ramona Bowl

I always look forward to my annual trek to Southern California, to meet up with my folks from Alaska for family fun, adventure, and beauty in the desert. We frequently stop at the Ramona Bowl in Hemet, California to stretch our legs, and enjoy the view of rock formations, valley, and mountains. Ramona Bowl is also significant because Ramona Pageant—the outdoor play based on the book Ramona, by Helen Hunt Jackson—has been presented at the Bowl annually since 1923.



View of the mountains from Ramona Bowl

Over the last several years Ramona Bowl board member Bob Fifield, the Valley Beautiful organization, and a group of volunteers have replaced plants, trees, and ancient sprinkler systems with Mediterranean and native plants and a drip irrigation system. Bob Pratte, columnist for The Press Enterprise, reported on the project in 2014.

Native and Mediterranean plants at Ramona Bowl

According to Pratt’s article, many of the plants were chosen as representative of what might have been found in Southern California during the late 1800s, the time period for Ramona. Examples include trailing lantana, bush morning glory, Jerusalem sage, penstemon, salvia, and cistus. I also like to see the native spring flowers sprinkled among the distinctive boulders surrounding the Bowl.

California Poppies

San Francisco Garden Show Highlights – 2015

It has been a couple of weeks, but I am still thinking about the great ideas my aunt and I saw at the San Francisco Garden Show in March. Some ideas I can put into action immediately – Patio Chair Care is scheduled to pick up our 32-year-old Brown Jordon patio furniture later this month. They will apply powder coating, and replace the strapping, and I expect the set will last another 32 years! Other ideas are filed away for future use and inspiration.

Synthetic grass has come a long way from AstroTurf. We’re looking for ways to replace our lawn, but not sure we’re quite ready for this. But I have to admit, after seeing the samples from SynLawn Bay Area, it is coming into its own. I could see incorporating this product into a landscape design.
 

Synthetic grass could be a great solution in the garden

The chicken coop is appealing, as is the idea of having a few layers. Imagine baking a cake, and bobbing out to the coop to gather a couple of fresh eggs. Maybe not now, with our busy, noisy street, but it is definitely an idea to file away for the future.

Chicken coop scaled model

I like the idea of signage in the garden, and am always on the lookout for fun ideas.

Wood signage with cutout letters

Slate signage with painted letters

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The Garden Show is also full of great planting ideas. I love the variety of plants, and the use of rocks or stone.

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This high fence would help keep deer out of a vegetable garden, and provide a nice open feeling for this outdoor room.

Wire and wood fence

The bonsai exhibit, sponsored by the Bonsai Society San Francisco, is full of works of art.

Wisteria floribunda "Black Dragon' has been in training for 50 years

The Hida Tools & Hardware Company was doing a brisk business at the Garden Show. They sell exceptional tools from Japan, and their brick and mortar store is conveniently located in Berkeley here in the East Bay.

Beautiful tools from Japan

The Garden Show is a great promoter of Art in the Garden, and always displays interesting and beautiful examples. Art can provide the perfect focal point in the garden.

Glass spires and blue Ceanothus

These ideas, and many others, will continue to inspire throughout the year.