Paleo Foraging

The Many Uses of Buckbrush (Ceanothus)

Note that the Indigenous peoples mentioned are still living cultures and when I use past tense it is to describe practices in a historical context.

This video is for educational or entertainment purposes. To be safe, DO NOT try anything I say or do. Foragers should be 100% certain of the ID of anything consumed.

My book: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL

REFERENCES
- Bocek, Barbara R. 1984. Ethnobotany of Costanoan Indians, California, based on collections by John P. Harrington. Economic Botany 38(2):240-255.
- GBIF Secretariat (range maps)
- Goodrich, J., Lawson, C., and Lawson, V. P. 1980. Kashaya Pomo plants. American Indian Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
- Voegelin, Ermine W. 1938. Tubatulabal ethnography. Anthropological Records 2(1):1-84. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

A Very Useful Native Plant!

Note that the Indigenous peoples mentioned are still living cultures and when I use past tense it is to describe practices in a historical context.

This video is for educational or entertainment purposes. To be safe, DO NOT try anything I say or do. Foragers should be 100% certain of the ID of anything consumed.

My book: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL

E-book and merch (my art): paleoforaging.com/shop

REFERENCES
- Chesnut, V. K. 1902. Plants used by the Indians of Mendocino County, California. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
- Goodrich, J., Lawson, C., and Lawson, V. P. 1980. Kashaya Pomo plants. American Indian Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
- Havard, V. 1895. Food plants of the North American Indians. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 22.
- Schenck, Sara M. and E. W. Gifford. 1952. Karok Ethnobotany. Anthropological Records 13(6):377-392. University of California Press, Berkeley, CA.

Insane poison ivy variant!

By “gestalt,” I mean you knowing it because of the way it is. You have successfully identified it so many times that you immediately know intuitively when you see it, without any conscious analysis of characters.

POISON IVY ID:
It usually has three leaflets, rarely five, even more rarely, one or two.

The leaves are bilaterally symmetrical, with a symmetrically lobed center leaflet, with the outer leaflets lobed more to the outside.

There is usually a reddish or pinkish tint to the petioles and petiolules, especially at junctures.

It is alternate branching.

Its adventitious (aerial) roots have a hair-like form and clasp the bark of host trees but also project outwards.

The bark has a slight yellow-orange hue with prominent lenticils (bumps).

The fruits are smooth, green to cream or white, small, and borne in large clusters that are somewhat pendulous (hang down).

USUAL VARIABLE CHARACTERS:
The leaves can be anywhere from highly glossy to matte. They tend to be glossy in the sun and matte in the shade.

They can be anywhere from unlobed to highly divided with almost serrate margins.

Leaf size also varies strongly, with leaflets only two inches long to leaflets ten inches long.

It can be a free-standing shrub, up to about 12 ft tall, a climbing vine reaching the canopy, or scandent (sprawling).

SPECIES
Toxicodendron radicans / eastern poison ivy is shown. These characters are consistent with all five Toxicodendron species in North America except for the leaflet count in T. vernix (poison sumac), which has 7-11 leaflets.

In the eastern US, in many areas, T. radicans, T. pubescens (Atlantic poison oak), and T. vernix are all present. In the western US, it’s mostly T. rydbergii (western poison ivy), except for the coastal states, which have T. diversilobum (Pacific poison oak).

T. pubescens can be distinguished from T. radicans by pubescence on its leaf underside, T. vernix by leaflet count, and the other two (T. rydbergii & T. pubescens) are identifiable simply by location.

I cover poison ivy ID in my book: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL

Become immune to mosquitoes?!

Obviously, none of this has to do with mosquito-borne disease. I'm not suggesting anything for anyone, just speculating about my personal experience.

See my previous two reels (or YouTube video) for deterrence strategies, including those used by Indigenous peoples historically.

REFERENCES
- Fostini et al. 2019. Beat the bite: pathophysiology and management of itch in mosquito bites.

Attract or repel mosquitoes.

My book: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL

This video is for educational or entertainment purposes. To be safe, DO NOT try anything I say or do. Foragers should be 100% certain of the ID of anything consumed.



REFERENCES
- Cantrell, C.L, J.A Klun, C.T. Bryson, M. Kobaisy, & S.O Duke. 2005. Isolation and identification of mosquito bite deterrent terpenoids from leaves of American (Callicarpa americana) and Japanese (Callicarpa japonica) beautyberry.
- Cantrell, Charles L. and J. A. Klun. 2011. Callicarpenal and Intermedeol: two natural arthropod feeding deterrent and repellent compounds identified from the Southern folk remedy plant, Callicarpa americana.
- Elmore, Francis H. 1943. Ethnobotany of the Navajo.
- Fostini et al. 2019. Beat the bite: pathophysiology and management of itch in mosquito bites.
- Gatschet, Albert S. 1891. The Karankawa Indians: the coast people of Texas.
- Kurz, Rudolph Friederich. 1970. Journal of Rudolph Friederich Kurz.
- Ling, Taotao, Jing Xu, Ryan Smith, Abbas Ali, Charles L. Cantrell, and Emmanuel A. Theodorakis. 2011. Synthesis of (−)-callicarpenal, a potent arthropod repellent.
- Qian, Huiqin and Yanling Li. 2024. Nandina domestica Thunb.: a review of traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology.
- Reeves and Amonkar 1970. Mosquito control with active principle of garlic, Allium sativum.
- Smith, Huron H. 1928. Ethnobotany of the Meskwaki Indians.
- Swanton, John Reed. 1996. Source material on the history and ethnology of the Caddo Indians.
- Waugh, F. W. 1916. Iroquis [sic] foods and food preparation.

How Natives deterred mosquitoes.

You can support my work by buying my book: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL

Note that the Indigenous peoples mentioned are still living cultures and when I use past tense it is to describe practices in a historical context.

This video is for educational or entertainment purposes. To be safe, DO NOT try anything I say or do.



REFERENCES
- Cantrell, C.L, J.A Klun, C.T. Bryson, M. Kobaisy, & S.O Duke. 2005. Isolation and identification of mosquito bite deterrent terpenoids from leaves of American (Callicarpa americana) and Japanese (Callicarpa japonica) beautyberry.
- Cantrell, Charles L. and J. A. Klun. 2011. Callicarpenal and Intermedeol: two natural arthropod feeding deterrent and repellent compounds identified from the Southern folk remedy plant, Callicarpa americana.
- Elmore, Francis H. 1943. Ethnobotany of the Navajo.
- Fostini et al. 2019. Beat the bite: pathophysiology and management of itch in mosquito bites.
- Gatschet, Albert S. 1891. The Karankawa Indians: the coast people of Texas.
- Kurz, Rudolph Friederich. 1970. Journal of Rudolph Friederich Kurz.
- Ling, Taotao, Jing Xu, Ryan Smith, Abbas Ali, Charles L. Cantrell, and Emmanuel A. Theodorakis. 2011. Synthesis of (−)-callicarpenal, a potent arthropod repellent.
- Qian, Huiqin and Yanling Li. 2024. Nandina domestica Thunb.: a review of traditional uses, phytochemistry, pharmacology, and toxicology.
- Reeves and Amonkar 1970. Mosquito control with active principle of garlic, Allium sativum.
- Smith, Huron H. 1928. Ethnobotany of the Meskwaki Indians.
- Swanton, John Reed. 1996. Source material on the history and ethnology of the Caddo Indians.
- Waugh, F. W. 1916. Iroquis [sic] foods and food preparation.

Wild plum ID & uses.

All this and much more is covered in my book: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL

The Indigenous peoples mentioned are still living cultures and when I use past tense it is to describe practices in a historical context.

REFERENCES
- Barrows. 1967. The ethno-botany of the Coahuilla Indians of Southern California.
- Bean and Saubel. 1972. Temalpakh.
- Berlandier. 1969. The Indians of Texas in 1830.
- Carlson and Jones. 1939. Some notes on uses of plants by the Comanche Indians.
- Castetter and Opler. 1936. The ethnobiology of the Chiricahua and Mescalero Apache.
- Chesnut. 1902. Plants used by the Indians of Mendocino County, California.
- Coville. 1897. Notes on the plants used by the Klamath Indians of Oregon.
- Densmore. 1928. Uses of plants by the Chippewa Indians.
- Dixon. 1905. The Huntington California expedition.
- Dixon. 1907. The Shasta.
- Elmore. 1943. Ethnobotany of the Navajo.
- Foster. 1998. The La Salle expedition to Texas.
- Gilmore. 1977. Uses of plants by the Indians of the Missouri river region.
- Hart. 1979. The ethnobotany of the Flathead Indians of western Montana.
- Hart. 1981. The ethnobotany of the Northern Cheyenne Indians of Montana.
- Hatcher. 1927d. Description of the Tejas or Asinai Indians, 1671-1722, IV.
- Hellson and Gadd. 1974. Ethnobotany of the Blackfoot Indians.
- Kavanagh. 2008. Comanche ethnography.
- Kurz. 1970. Journal of Rudolph Friederich Kurz.
- La Vere. 2006. Life among the Texas Indians.
- Leighton. 1985. Wild plant use by the Woods Cree (Nihīthawak) of east-central Saskatchewan.
- Mails. 1974. People called Apache.
- McClintock. 1909. Materia medica of the Blackfeet.
- Munson. 1981. Contributions to Osage and Lakota Ethnobotany.
- Smith. 1974. Ethnography of the Northern Utes.
- Smith. 1923. Ethnobotany of the Menomini Indians.
- Smith. 1932. Ethnobotany of the Ojibwe Indians.
- Swanton. 1996. Source material on the history and ethnology of the Caddo Indians.
- Swanton. 2001. Source material for the social and ceremonial life of the Choctaw Indians.
- Waugh. 1916. Iroquis [sic] foods and food preparation.
- Winship. 1904. The Coronado Expedition, 1540-1542.
- Varner and Varner. 1988. The Florida of the Inca.
- Vestal and Schultes. 1939. Economic botany of the Kiowa Indians.

Tastiest wild tree in California!

Note that the Indigenous peoples mentioned are still living cultures and when I use past tense it is to describe practices in a historical context.

This video is for educational or entertainment purposes. To be safe, DO NOT try anything I say or do. Foragers should be 100% certain of the ID of anything consumed.



My book: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL

E-book and merch (my art): paleoforaging.com/shop

REFERENCES
- Chesnut, V. K. 1902. Plants used by the Indians of Mendocino County, California. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.
- Goodrich, J., Lawson, C., and Lawson, V. P. 1980. Kashaya Pomo plants. American Indian Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles, CA.
- Powers, Stephen. 1877. Tribes of California. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.

Ecostewards vs. transhumanists.

My book can help: www.amazon.com/Native-Food-Plants-Texas-Indigenous/dp/B0FW7K4GXL