New Desert Horticultural Society of the Coachella Valley is launched

 

From Katie Barrows

 

Desert gardeners and native plant enthusiasts gathered at The Living Desert on a warm July evening to discuss the formation of a “Desert Horticultural Society.” The society is now underway in the Coachella Valley with a mission statement, “...to promote the use of desert appropriate plants in an attractive, environmentally sustainable landscape.” Among the values the group wants to promote are 1)responsible water usage, 2) use of native and desert appropriate plants, 3) creation of habitat corridors for local birds and other animals, 4) the minimal use of resources in the landscape, and 5) attractive and inviting landscapes. Besides efforts to promote desert landscaping through public outreach, the group also wants to provide a forum for members to share their desert gardening successes and failures. Their next meeting is planned for Wednesday, August 24th, at 6 PM at The Living Desert in Palm Desert. A public kick-off event is planned for the fall. If you have would like to participate and/or be added to this e-mail distribution list, please contact Paul Ortega at 760.327.8968 or info@desertgardencenter.com.

OUR FEATURED PLANT, and a new organization!

 

SECHINGILY AND TRADE

 

"Acacia gregii—Cat Claw"

 

By Mark Acuna, member of the San Gabriel Chapter and the Tongva people

 

One of the forgotten elements of California Indian culture is the sophisticated and complex network of trade, trade routes, the scope of the trade culture and  the breadth of items traded across "America" from Alaska to Mexico and from the Pacific and Atlantic deep into the interior of the continent. Pacific abalone is found in Cahokia and parrot feathers from southern Mexico made their way north and decorated northern California head gear.

 

The Tongva (the Gabrieleno indigenous people of the Los Angeles Basin) were part of that web of trade routes. They traded up and down the coast from the Chumash to the Kuechnajuichon, from the Acjachemen to the Payoomkawichum. In the interior they traded with their neighbors the Kumitaraxam and the Kokoemkam, the Tataviam (very close cousins), the Kitanemuk and the Tubatulabal and on occasion even with the warlike Colorado river people, the Chemehuevi.

 

Sechingily (Cat Claw its common name in English) was one of the trade items that the Tongva traded with the Kumitaraxam (the Cahuilla) and the Kokoemkam (the Serrano). The spiny shrub is found in washes and canyons below 6000 ft from Creosote Bush Scrub to Pinyon-Juniper Woodland and in both the Colorado and south Mojave deserts.

 

Sechingily provided a variety of valuable products and materials. The pods of Acacia gregii were ground and made into mush or cakes. When traded early enough the pods were eaten fresh and also made into a tea. Acorns, basket work, and shells were Tongva trade items for baskets of pods. The stems, roots, flowers, and leaves were all made into a tea and the seeds were stored, roasted, ground and made into small cakes.

 

Medicinally a tea was made from the roots and used for sore throats; the flowers and leaves were used as a tea for nausea.

 

Though rarely used, the twigs could be de-thorned and split for basketry. But the main use of the branches was for the making of cradle frames and the branches could be de-thorned, softened and fitted around a hunter's head to make the frame for deer disguises.

 

The ends of small twigs were crushed and used as brushes for painting.

 

Sechingily is one of many plants that made its way across the hills and mountains and up and down the coast as a sought after trade item. Its bright yellow blossoms cheer up the desert  washes and canyons from April to June, but one needs to be careful with this thorny shrub. Its hard sharp thorns are bent backwards like the claws of a cat and many a traveler and hunter found himself painfully scratched and today's desert hikers join the ranks of those whose sweaters, shirts, pants, and socks have been torn and shredded by Sechingily.