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- Lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla)
Common name: Lechuguilla Scientific name: Agave lechuguilla Description: Lechuguilla is a slender-leaved member of the Agave family. The leaves are rigid and end in a sturdy sharp point capable of penetrating most clothing, as well as skin. Uses: Southwest Native Americans have used fibers from the leaves (commonly called ixtle, but also a hard fiber known by the trade name Tampico fiber) to make ropes and mats. - Slipper Plant (Euphorbia antisyphilitica)
Common name: Slipper Plant, Lady's Slipper Scientific name: Euphorbia antisyphilitica Description: This plant is an succulent that blooms in the fall. The plant grows as masses of clumped stems capped with yellow to orange-red flowers when in bloom. - Guayule (Parthenium argentatum)
Common name: Guayule Scientific name: Parthenium argentatum Description: Guayule is a short evergreen shrub with lanceolate gray-green leaves and pale yellow to white flowers that are present nearly year-round. Uses: Guayule may have been used to make rubber balls -- one such ball is reported from the a Hohokam site in southern Arizona. - Pincushion Cactus (Mammillaria microcarpa)
Common name: Pincushion Cactus, Mammillaria, Nipple Cactus, Fishhook Cactus Scientific name: Mammillaria microcarpa Description: Very small barrel-like cactus with showy pink flowers, short white spines, and long curved reddish-brown spines. Uses: Among the Papago and Pima, used as a water supplement (when opened and chewed). The red cactus fruit may be rubbed on arrowshafts as coloring/dye. - Murphy's Agave (Agave murpheyi)
Common name: Agave, Hohokam Agave Scientific name; Agave murpheyi Descriptive: Murphy's Agave is a relatively small agave variety. The leaves are fleshy, light blue-green to yellow-green, spined along the edges and at the leaf tip, and grow in a rosette from the heart of the plant. Uses: Extensively cultivated for food and fiber by the prehistoric Hohokam of southern Arizona. - Creosote (Larrea tridentata)
Common name: Creosote, Greasewood, Covillea Scientific name: Larrea tridentata Description: Creosote is a tough desert evergreen shrub with flexible stems, small greasy or waxy green leaves, and small yellow flowers. The leaves have a distinctive smell, especially following rain. The Tohono O’odham (Papago) and Pima say it was the first plant created. It is the single most widely-used and frequently-employed medicinal herb in the Sonoran Desert. This plant is known as “greasewood” among the O’odham and many ranchers, but to most other people greasewood is Sarcobatus, a Mohave and Great Basin shrub. The Spanish name "gobernadora" is a political commentary - this fairly new name was invented in northern Mexico and meant to be associated with the already established name of "hediondilla" (little stinker). The Pima name is shegoi. Uses: Widely used for medicinal purposes by Acoma, Apache, Gosiute, Hopi, Jemez, Keres, Navajo, Pima, and Southern Paiute. Also used variously for construction, as tools (such as digging sticks and handles), ceremonial/ritual purposes, and carved into knitting needles (Navajo). The Seri smoked the galls like tobacco. The sap (or lac, actually a scale insect) is also used as a sealant (Pima and Papago). - Roasted Agave Hearts
Subject: Roasted agave hearts. - Hopbush (Dodonea viscosa)
Common name: Hopbush Scientific name: Dodonea viscosa Uses: The fruit has been used as a substitute for hops in the brewing of beer. The Seri use it as an external remedy for aches. - Shrub Live-Oak (Quercus turbinella)
Common name: Live Oak Scientific name: Quercus turbinella Uses: Acorns (nuts) widely eaten as food by Acoma, Apache, Cocopah, Gosiute, Havasupai, Hualapai, Laguna, Mohave, Navajo, Papago, Pima, Southern Paiute, Tewa, Uintah Ute, Yavapai, and Yuma. Variously used for making tools/tool parts (digging sticks, handles, etc.), ceremonial/ritual purposes, and as a tannin (Apache). Sap may also be used as chewing gum or as an adhesive (Navajo). - Jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis)
Common name: Jojoba, Coffeeberry, Goat Nut, Deer Nut, Pignut, Wild Hazel, Quinine Nut, Gray Box Bush Scientific name: Simmondsia chinensis The name "jojoba" originated with the Tohono O'odham people (Papago), who treated burns with an antioxidant salve made from a paste of the jojoba nut. - Sotol (Dasylirion wheeleri)
Common name: Sotol Scientific name: Dasylirion wheeleri Uses: Until a few decades ago, the Tohono O’odham (Papago) wove beautiful sleeping mats by plaiting together sotol leaves after removing marginal teeth. - Mexican Blue Oak (Quercus oblongifolia)
Common name: Blue Oak Scientific name: Quercus oblongifolia Uses: Acorns (nuts) widely eaten as food by Acoma, Apache, Cocopah, Gosiute, Havasupai, Hualapai, Laguna, Mohave, Navajo, Papago, Pima, Southern Paiute, Tewa, Uintah Ute, Yavapai, and Yuma. Variously used for making tools/tool parts (digging sticks, handles, etc.), ceremonial/ritual purposes, and as a tannin (Apache). Sap may also be used as chewing gum or as an adhesive (Navajo). - Desert Honeysuckle (Anisicanthus thurberi)
Common names: Desert Honeysuckle Scientific name: Anisicanthus thurberi Description: A woody shrub with oval somewhat hairy leaves and bright orange-red tubular flowers with petals that curl back from the center, exposing long similarly colored stamens and a white pistil. - Mesquite (Prosopis spp.)
Common name: Mesquite Scientific name: Prosopis spp. Description: Mesquite is a relatively common tree in the southern Southwest, with a variety of species present as far north as the Verde Valley in Arizona. The tree grows relatively quickly, has catkin-like clusters of leaves, and sweet-smelling bead pods. The pods are either sweet or bitter depending on the variety. Uses: Mesquite has been an important food source for indigenous peoples. The Tohono O’odham (Papago) are on the verge of commercial success with this crop. Mesquite flour also has major conservation potential, in that it can be made into “bread” without baking. The Pima have traditionally crushed and soaked mesquite pods in water to produce a drink called vau. Mesquite wood is hard, attractive, and in high demand for quality furniture. Mesquite has recently surpassed hickory as the most popular smoke flavoring for food. Because of the overharvesting, its wood should not be used for this purpose; burning dried pods imparts the same flavor. Both indigenous peoples and early European/American settlers used the tree's inner bark as material for basketry, coarse fabrics, and medicine to treat a variety of disorders. Gum exuded from the stem is used for manufacture of candy (gumdrops), mucilage for mending pottery, and black dye. - Ironwood (Olneya tesota)
Common name: Ironwood Scientific name: Olneya tesota Description: Ironwood is a desert evergreen with dark gray bark and small dark green leaves clustered like those on mesquite. The tree produces small pinkish flowers and seed pods between May and early summer. Desert ironwood makes excellent firewood; it burns long and hot and makes good coals. Harvest for woodcarvings and charcoal has nearly extirpated large trees in most of Sonora, and campers and illegal woodcutters are depleting accessible populations in the United States. Because of their slow growth rate and historic-modern depletion, it has become illegal to harvest and/or burn ironwood; this tree is protected in both Sonora and Arizona. Uses: The wood is extremely dense; it will not float in water. The Seri Indians favor the ironwood to make their famous wood carvings - a craft developed in the early 1960s for tourist trade. The seeds could also be used as food, if leached and then ground.