Desert

Agave Shawii: Flower stalks and crowns were an important part of Native Americans ‘ diet. Some were roasted for a feast. Others were stored as winter food and bartered with other tribes. Flowers also eaten boiled or dried. The tough leaves were used as fiber to make rope, bowstrings, brushes and sewing materials. Spines were used as needles. Leaves may have been chewed as a medicine. Juice of the roots was applied to wounds. The seeds were ground for flour. The Agave Skipper Caterpillar was roasted as a delicacy. Indian women used agave charcoal for tattooing. food for pigeons and Big Horned Sheep; Dried stalks are used as nests by Cactus Woodpecker. Today pulque is fermented from flower stalks. This is the main ingredient in Tequila.

Beaver's Tail Cactus: fruit edible. Pads eaten raw and cooked. Favorite rabbit browse.

Big Basin Sagebrush: Indigenous peoples harvested abundant seeds to make flour

Bur Sage: forage for animals

Brittle Bush: Resin in woody stem chewed by Native Peoples and used to treat a variety of pains

Cat's Claw: Buds and blossoms dried kept among women’s things as a sachet. Pods can be eaten fresh or dried and ground into flour for mush or cakes. Protein content is 33.8%. It can also be used as construction material and firewood.

California Fleabane: Native Americans made a tea to treat gonorrhea

Chuparosa: Eat blossom (cucumber taste). Diegueno Indians sucked flower for nectar. We have a clone of a yellow plant found along road between Tecate and Ensenada. Resin in woody stem chewed by Native Peoples and used to treat a variety of pains

Creosote Bush: Gum secreted by scale insect was used to glue on arrowheads, cure-all for: stomach disorders, chicken pox, kidney trouble, rheumatism, colds, snakes bites, venereal disease, etc. Researchers are now investigating possible use to cure Aides.

Desert Agave: Flower stalks and crowns were an important part of Native Americans ‘ diet. Some were roasted for a feast. Others were stored as winter food and bartered with other tribes. Flowers also eaten boiled or dried. The tough leaves were used as fiber to make rope, bowstrings, brushes and sewing materials. Spines were used as needles. Leaves may have been chewed as a medicine. Juice of the roots was applied to wounds. The seeds were ground for flour. The Agave Skipper Caterpillar was roasted as a delicacy. Indian women used agave charcoal for tattooing. food for pigeons and Big Horned Sheep; Dried stalks are used as nests by Cactus Woodpecker. Today pulque is fermented from flower stalks. This is the main ingredient in Tequila.

Desert Holly: Native Americans ground roots and blossoms, moistened with saliva; treatment for ant bites. Harvested in vast quantities for Christmas decorations.

Desert Lavender: Goat and sheep browse. Attracts bees, sometimes known as Bee Sage.

Desert Ironwood: Almost logged to extinction due to hard wood. The pods and seeds were roasted and ground into flour; used to fashion implements requiring extreme hardness; excellent firewood, mistletoe causes swelling of branches and weakens tree

Desert Mallow: Austin Indians boiled down into thick mass which added to red clay was used to make cups. Indians of Elko, Nevada used as a tea for birth control. Raw root mashed and applied to swollen feet. Root cooked and used as a poultice.

Desert Milkweed: Asklepios was Greek god of medicine. Plant is said to have medicinal value.

Desert Willow: Wood used for bows.

Diamond Cactus: he fruits are edible between April and May they can be eaten fresh or dried for later use. The stalks were boiled into soup or also dried.

Elephant Tree: Mature tree has distorted branches and trunks resembling an elephant’s trunk. Relative of frankincense and myrrh which were economically important in the Old World as perfumes and incense, and used as medicines. The Cachuilla Indians believed the sap of the Elephant Tree (a New World plant) had great power, because it is red like human blood. They used it to treat skin disorders and other serious ailments. It was always hidden inside since it was considered dangerous to have it out in the open. Today researchers are investigating its anti-microbial abilities as a possible cure for cancer.

Foothill Yucca: The yucca plant was utilized by the Kumeyaay. The stalks were roasted over a fire and could be eaten. The flower buds were boiled to make soup. The seeds were used as beads and ground for flour. Soap from roots; fiber plant. (Tegeticula muculata) Ca Yucca Moth has a symbiotic relationship with plant. The moth has a special mouth part to gather pollen and pollinate plant. Larvae eat fruit of plant. Only this moth can pollinate this yucca. she lays eggs as she pollinates, larva eat a few seeds, spin web, drop to ground, emerge in a year as moths.

Four Wing Saltbush: Native Americans ground roots and blossoms, moistened with saliva; treatment for ant bites.

Hedgehog Cactus: Food for birds and rodents

Honey Mesquite: Trunk used for wooden mortars, limbs for bows, firewood, fiber used for women’s skirts, branches used for corner posts for houses, bright green compound leaves, straw covered pods.

Long Jointed Beaver Tail: fruit edible. Pads eaten raw and cooked. Favorite rabbit browse.

Many fruit Saltbush: Native Americans ground roots and blossoms, moistened with saliva; treatment for ant bites.

Mojave Yucca: Fiber plant for rope, nets, baskets, etc.; soap from roots Native Americans ate flowers and flower stalks fresh after roasting and also dried as winter food. food gathered three times: as blossoms developed, prior to opening, after blossoming Pollinated only by a specific species of Yucca Moth.

Mormon Tea: A mild tea serving as a tonic can be made from dried stems. The drug, ephedrine, is made from an Asiatic species. Winter forage for grazing animals

Palo Verde Tree: Buds and blossoms dried kept among women’s things as a sachet. Pods can be eaten fresh or dried and ground into flour for mush or cakes. Protein content is 33.8%. It can also be used as construction material and firewood.

Pencil Cactus: The fruits are edible between April and May they can be eaten fresh or dried for later use. The stalks were boiled into soup or also dried.

Prickly Pear: fruit edible. Pads eaten raw and cooked. Favorite rabbit browse. Native Americans used thorns for tattooing. This was such a popular food that Native Americans planted it wherever they lived. The Spanish introduced it to Spain to feed the cochineal bugs which suck the juice from the cactus. The bug was used for the red dye to dye royal garments. It was economically important during the colonial era. cactus candy: soak 1/2” tunas in water over night, simmer in syrup of 3 cups sugar, 1/2 cup water, 2 tbs. orange juice, 1 tbs. lemon juice until syrup almost absorbed

Ocotillo: Provided edible blossoms; used in drinks; seed pods were available for food; also used as fencing, firewood, and torches Leaves grow within two or three days of rain due to special packets of growing material within the bark capable of generating leaves when touched by water before water comes up from the roots.

Rabbit Bush: orange or yellow dye from blossoms tea used as a laxative

San Diego Barrel Cactus: Barrels for cooking pots; spines used for awl, needles and tattooing.

Screwbean Mesquite: Ate pods, gum from bark with mud to kill lice, blue stain to paint face, fruit-pods-seeds eaten or mixed with water as drink, liquid made from gum, eye wash. Tan seed pods in bunched clusters.

Teddy Bear Cholla: Base of spines straw colored when young. As matures bottom parts take on distinctive brownish cast.

Water Jacket: Berries edible

Wolf's Bear Grass (Nolina): found on desert slopes of San Ysidro Mountains Leaves grow within two or three days of rain due to special packets of growing material within the bark capable of generating leaves when touched by water before water comes up from the roots.