Modern Politics: CSU Ethnobotany

Ethnobotany

Cleveland Sage [Native]

!!! Sage is sacred and should be treated as such. It should be honored with respect and good intention throughout the harvesting process. Be mindful that commodifying sage has led to poaching and overharvesting [1].

The Indigenous people burn their leaves for ceremonial smudges and fumigation. The leaves are also used to treat a cough or chest cold and to resolve issues with poison oak. Seeds are toasted and ground up to make pinole, an edible mush [2].

Fragrant leaves and flowers can be used as tea or herb [3].

Cleveland sage can also be added to pesto, beer, ice cream and baked goods [4].

Can be chewed for pain relief [5]. Poultice of warmed leaves applied to neck for earaches and sore throats [6]. Can also aid menstruation cramps, constipation, and anxiety [1].

Aloe x (vera, coral, Cynthia giddy, short leaved) [Not Native]

Have been adopted as treatment for sunburns, minor burns, a hair moisturizer, to improve digestion and an analgesic, to relieve pain, with its anti-inflammatory and antibiotic properties [7, 8, 9].

Agave x (blue flame, fox tail) [Not Native]

Fiber is used to make clothing, fishing nets, baby cradles, slings, and sandals [Temelpak]. Leaf tips is used as needles – for clothing, basketmaking and tattooing (ashes of the burned stalks for the dye) [Abe Sanchez]. The rosette (center of the plant) is eaten like a sweet artichoke. The flowers are edible but are hardboiled to release bitterness (can also be sundried [10]). The leaves are edible at all stages, except those nearest to the ground which are bitter. The caterpillars of the agave skipper butterfly eat agave and the Indigenous people eat the caterpillars [Temelpak]. Seeds are gathered and ground into flour [10].

California Fushia [Native]

Indigenous people use it as a urinary tract tonic and to remedy fevers for children [11]. Leaves are used as a detergent in washing, and as dusting powder for cuts, wounds, and sores on horses. Decoction (extract obtained from boiling) of leaves is used for tuberculosis, kidney and bladder problems, and as a cathartic (purgative agent) [12].

Slender vervain [Not Native]

Has powerful anti-inflammatory compounds. The plant may relieve pain associated with arthritis or gout, and to treat bruises, burns, itching, and other skin conditions [13].

Deergrass [Native]

Critical to basket making. The Indigenous people use the flowers stalks are foundational in coiled baskets. When baskets made from deergrass stalks are immersed in water expand until they become watertight, making them ideal for water jugs and cooking baskets. Caring for these plants, and the surrounding landscape, requires carefully burning the area every 2-5 years to clear out dead material, eliminate insects, recycle plant nutrients, and thin other competitive shrubs that blocked sunlight [14]. Industrial agriculture, fire regulations and invasive species have created barriers to properly caring for the land.

Limonium x [Not Native]

In Europe, it was cultivated for its medicinal uses – like in herbal tonics to treat a variety of gastrointestinal and respiratory ailments [15]. It is also edible [15, 16].

Jade Plant [Not Native]

It’s used as a medicinal plant in Chinese culture, by the Indigenous KhoiKhoi and other African tribes. Extract from its leaves is used to treat wounds, stomach upset, warts, and diabetes [17].

Red Hot Poker [Not Native]

In South Africa the juice of the flowers from this plant is used in cosmetics, and the root is used as a cleanser for the skin to rid it of spots and other skin eruptions [18]. The nectar-filled blooms are said to taste like honey [19].

10. Blue Lyme Grass [Not Native]

The leaves are used for making mats, rope, paper, and flower arranging. This grass is highly salt tolerant. Can be invasive (spreads by rhizomes) [20].

Gum rockrose [Not Native]

Oleoresin from the branches is extracted to make essential oil – used in sweets, food flavoring, chewing gum, perfume, and soap. From the leaves labdanum is extracted and used in traditional medicine and aromatherapy [21].

Strawberry Tree (Arbutus unedo, Arbutus ‘Marina’) [Not Native]

The fruit can be used as a remedy to respiratory and intestinal inflammation [22]. Infusions are rich in antioxidants and tannins and can be used as a urinary antiseptic (which helps in the prevention of recurring UTIs). Decoction of strawberry tree leaves and roots can help to combat rheumatic (musculoskeletal) pains [23].

“The fruits of the plant have been traditionally used as antiseptics, diuretics and laxatives in folk medicine, while the leaves have been used due to their diuretic, urinary antiseptic, antidiarrheal, astringent, depurative and antihypertensive properties. According to the scientific literature survey, different extracts obtained from Arbutus unedo L. have demonstrated a high pharmacological potential due to their in vitro and preclinical antibiotic, antifungal, antiparasitic, antiaggregant, antidiabetic, antihypertensive, anti-inflammatory, antitumoral, antioxidant, and spasmolytic properties” [24].

It has hard wood which can be used for firewood and making utensils [25].

Fortnight Lily [Not Native]

Parts of the plant are toxic to humans and animals; rarely life threatening [26]. Used in traditional medicine to treat cold, flu, headache, toothache, malaria, bruise, and various infections [27].

Pig’s ear [Not Native]

Can apply fleshy part of the leaf to corns and warts (heated in the oven and bisected to apply raw wet surface to area [29]) to soften and remove them. Chew a leaf to expel intestinal worms. Warmed leaf juice is used as drops for earache and tooth ache. Hot poultice to treat boils, earache, or inflammation [28].

15. Seaside Daisy [Native]

Fire resistant [30]. Mildly poisonous [31].

Black Sage [Native]

The First Peoples have a wide variety of uses for black sage including: green leaves chewed for gas pains; poultice of heated leaves applied to the ear for earache pain; decoction of plant taken for coughs, sore throat, and bronchial problems; and an infusion of green leaves were taken for heart disorders. Leaves and stalks were used as a food flavoring and parched seeds ground into a meal for food [12].

Can be used the same as white sage: use it in salads raw or in cooking. Wash until there is no longer a sticky texture, do not use if there is a sticky texture because there is a chemical found in the plant, called Thujone, which can cause epileptic shock.
Sage can be used for smudging. Native Americans, including the Tongva people, smudge the oils of plants on friends, family, the elderly. They smudge as a sign of friendship. They also smudged the sage on armor because it brought good luck and prevented bad luck [32].

Bear Grass [Not Native]

Nolina sp. has been identified in basketry fragments from Middle and Late Archaic contexts at Hinds Cave, Texas. Some beargrass species in the greater Southwest and adjacent Mexico were processed in various ways and eaten, and this may have also occurred (occur?) in Texas [33].

Heavenly Bamboo [Not Native]

Berries are highly toxic; they contain cyanide. Toxic to birds, dogs, cats and many other animals. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and most states classify Nandina domestica as a noxious, non-native, invasive weed from China and Japan [34]. The leaves, stems and fruit all serve as minor folk medicines in Chinese tradition, usually prescribed only by an experienced practitioner because of potential toxicity of alkaloids in the fruits [35]. There is a danger that an overdose can cause respiratory paralysis [36].

Mock Orange (Pittosporum tobira Variegated, Dwarf) [Not Native]

Contains saponins. Saponins are found in many foods, such as some beans, and although they are toxic to people they are poorly absorbed by the body and most pass straight through without any problem. They can be broken down if cooked thoroughly for a long time. Saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish [37].

Plants with high concentrations of saponins can be used as a type of soap. [38]

Used as an anti-malarial in Mozambique [39].

20. Daylily (Hemerocallis Yellow, Red) [Not Native]

Yellow Daylily (黄花)

Used in many Chinese dishes and in soap [40]. The unopened flowers, most commonly dried, are used in cooking as a flavor enhancer primarily in vegetarian dishes [41].

California Sycamore [Native]

Wood is used in the construction of housing. Bark and roots can be boiled to make tea, or a coffee substitute [42, 43].

Peach Tree [Not Native]

They have peaches!

African Iris [Not Native]

Used in traditional medicine to treat cold, flu, headache, toothache, malaria, bruise and various infections [44].

East African Yellowwood [Not Native]

In Sidama, Ethiopia, these trees are a part of the local peoples’ ancestral tree-based rituals [45]. The fruits are edible, though slightly toxic and should therefore be eaten sparingly, especially when they are eaten raw. But still they are cooked into jams or pies and have a mucilaginous texture with a slight sweet flavor. Some species are used as traditional medicine for the treatment of fevers, asthma, coughs, cholera, chest complaints, arthritis, rheumatism, venereal diseases, and distemper in dogs [46]. The tree is also used for carpentry, paneling, and flooring, as it is a hardy wood [47].

Eucalyptus (White Ironbark, Red Ironbark) [Not Native]

“…Gairabau, a Dungidau man from south-east Queensland verifies a broad array of uses for eucalypts including as gum for chewing, dying, and medicine; ash rubbed into the skin for soothing young mothers, where bees, honey and wax can be found, hollow logs for fish-traps, hard timber for weapons and utensils, bark for shelter, canoes, embalming, and containers – some species contained water, others were used to create smoke for sending signals, some species indicated an unsuitable camp-site, and others indicated the likelihood of finding koalas and possum as game. Flowering and the shedding of bark are signs for the bush calendar” [48].

Weeping Juniper [Not Native]

The aromatic wood is used for cedar chests and for lumber, fence posts, and fuel [49].

Red Kangaroo Paw [Not Native]

The Aboriginal people call Kangaroo Paw Nollamara or Kurulbrang or Yonga Marra in the local Nyoongar language [50]. They use it in preparing traditional medicine, although there have not been many released reports about it [50, 51].

The flowers have chemical properties that are antimicrobial, antioxidative, anticarcinogenic and anti-inflammatory. Kangaroo Paws possess starchy tuberous roots that have been a component of the diet for the Aboriginal people of Western Australia (Yellagonga region). One of the Kangaroo Paw species (A. rufus) has red roots which have been used as a dye by the Indigenous in the Northern Territory of Australia [51].

Common Jasmine [Not Native]

The famous aroma comes from oil in the petals and it is those petals you use to flavor your tea [52]. It is used in the treatment of depression, nervous tension, impotence, frigidity, menstrual disorders and weak digestion. The leaves contain salicylic acid. The root is used in the treatment of ringworm [53].

Dwarf Lily of the Nile [Not Native]

Has low severity poison characteristics. Is medicinally by native people [54]. In Xhosa and Zulu herbal medicine, a decoction of the root of (sometimes also with roots of Typha capensis [Bulrush]) is taken by women in the last three months of pregnancy to ensure a healthy child and ease childbirth. Used in a more concentrated form to induce labor. In South Sotho herbal medicine, a lotion is made from the crushed root. In Zulu herbal medicine, a hot infusion of the root of Agapanthus is taken daily as an emetic (causes vomiting), to treat serious heart disease [55].

30. Indian Hawthorn [Not Native]

Certain varieties produce berries that can be poisonous if ingested [56]. Berries are deemed edible and is used as a source of dark blue, turquoise, and purple dye [57]. Berries used to treat heart disease because they contain high levels of antioxidant flavonoids which help dilate blood vessels. Berries contain concentrated levels of pectin; can be made into jams, jellies, and sauces [58].

Blue Chalksticks [Not Native]

Toxic to pets and people [59]. On the island of Madeira in Portugal (where it is not native) people use the sap in the eyes for eye infections and on the skin for wounds [60]. Most commonly used to treat endocrine (diabetes), dermatological, gastrointestinal, and respiratory problems in Kerman province of southeast Iran (also not where it is native) [61].

Purple Queen Spiderwort [Not Native]

Juices from the stem and leaves may cause skin irritation [62]. It is known to be used to treat many diseases, including mycosal infections, venereal diseases, wounds, gastrointestinal disorders, and cancer, which may be linked to their antibacterial and antioxidant properties [63]

Hydrangea [Not Native]

Poisonous to pets and people [64]. Medicinal in Chinese medicine. The flowers are used to treat malaria and various heart diseases. The leaves and roots have been used as an antimalarial drug [65].

Red Franipani [Not Native]

Flowers are considered sacred, are used by some native people as flavor for cacao, by others as flavoring for alcoholic drinks [66]. Different parts of the plant are used traditionally to treat diseases and conditions such as leprosy, inflammation, diabetic mellitus, ulcers, wounds, itching, acne, toothache, earache, tongue cleaning, pain, asthma, constipation and antifertility [67].

35. Hahns Ivy [Not Native]

This plant has medium severity poison characteristics. Was used as a topical agent for its antifungal and antimicrobial properties [68].

Sources:

Temelpak, ISBN: 0-939-046-24-5

1. https://www.thezoereport.com/p/the-significance-of-sage-among-native-american-nations-for-healing-health-45450613

2. https://www.sandiego.edu/kumeyaay-garden/plants/cleveland-sage.php

3. https://www.cnps.org/flora-magazine/bringing-native-foods-home-with-abe-sanchez-22949

4. https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=19005

5. https://news.usc.edu/trojan-family/close-to-home-discovering-las-healing-powers/

6. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi_-deP87D3AhVSD0QIHU1lAgkQFnoECCcQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.parks.ca.gov%2Fpages%2F486%2Ffiles%2Fplantreferenceguide2014_03_03_14.pdf&usg=AOvVaw31vJIOTOkUWU-6earPFpBo

7. https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/suppositories-yeah-native-made-indigenous-inventions-changed-world

8. https://indiancountrytoday.com/archive/5-reasons-natives-have-lustrous-locks-ancient-indigenous-hair-remedies