Undomesticated plants and other food sources Apache

apache girl basket, 1902

the gathering of plants , other foods done women. however, in activities, such gathering of heavy agave crowns, men helped, although men s job hunt animals such deer, buffalo, , small game. numerous plants used medicine , religious ceremonies in addition nutritional usage. other plants utilized religious or medicinal value.

in may, western apache baked , dried agave crowns pounded pulp , formed rectangular cakes. @ end of june , beginning of july, saguaro, prickly pear, , cholla fruits gathered. in july , august, mesquite beans, spanish bayonet fruit, , emory oak acorns gathered. in late september, gathering stopped attention moved toward harvesting cultivated crops. in late fall, juniper berries , pinyon nuts gathered.

the important plant food used chiricahua century plant (also known mescal or agave). crowns (the tuberous base portion) of plant (which baked in large underground ovens , sun-dried) , shoots used. other plants utilized chiricahua include: agarita (or algerita) berries, alligator juniper berries, anglepod seeds, banana yucca (or datil, broadleaf yucca) fruit, chili peppers, chokecherries, cota (used tea), currants, dropseed grass seeds, gambel oak acorns, gambel oak bark (used tea), grass seeds (of various varieties), greens (of various varieties), hawthorne fruit, lamb s-quarters leaves, lip ferns (used tea), live oak acorns, locust blossoms, locust pods, maize kernels (used tiswin), , mesquite beans.

also eaten mulberries, narrowleaf yucca blossoms, narrowleaf yucca stalks, nipple cactus fruit, one-seed juniper berries, onions, pigweed seeds, pinyon nuts, pitahaya fruit, prickly pear fruit, prickly pear juice, raspberries, screwbean (or tornillo) fruit, saguaro fruit, spurge seeds, strawberries, sumac (rhus trilobata) berries, sunflower seeds, tule rootstocks, tule shoots, pigweed tumbleweed seeds, unicorn plant seeds, walnuts, western yellow pine inner bark (used sweetener), western yellow pine nuts, whitestar potatoes (ipomoea lacunosa), wild grapes, wild potatoes (solanum jamesii), wood sorrel leaves, , yucca buds (unknown species). other items include: honey ground hives , hives found within agave, sotol, , narrowleaf yucca plants.

the abundant agave (mescal) important mescalero, gathered crowns in late spring after reddish flower stalks appeared. smaller sotol crowns important. both crowns of both plants baked , dried. other plants include: acorns, agarita berries, amole stalks (roasted , peeled), aspen inner bark (used sweetener), bear grass stalks (roasted , peeled), box elder inner bark (used sweetener), banana yucca fruit, banana yucca flowers, box elder sap (used sweetener), cactus fruits (of various varieties), cattail rootstocks, chokecherries, currants, dropseed grass seeds (used flatbread), elderberries, gooseberries (ribes leptanthum , r. pinetorum), grapes, hackberries, hawthorne fruit, , hops (used condiment).

they used horsemint (used condiment), juniper berries, lamb s-quarters leaves, locust flowers, locust pods, mesquite pods, mint (used condiment), mulberries, pennyroyal (used condiment), pigweed seeds (used flatbread), pine inner bark (used sweetener), pinyon pine nuts, prickly pear fruit (dethorned , roasted), purslane leaves, raspberries, sage (used condiment), screwbeans, sedge tubers, shepherd s purse leaves, strawberries, sunflower seeds, tumbleweed seeds (used flatbread), vetch pods, walnuts, western white pine nuts, western yellow pine nuts, white evening primrose fruit, wild celery (used condiment), wild onion (used condiment), wild pea pods, wild potatoes, , wood sorrel leaves.

the jicarilla used acorns, chokecherries, juniper berries, mesquite beans, pinyon nuts, prickly pear fruit, , yucca fruit, many different kinds of other fruits, acorns, greens, nuts, , seed grasses.

the important plant food used lipan agave (mescal). important plant sotol. other plants utilized lipan include: agarita, blackberries, cattails, devil s claw, elderberries, gooseberries, hackberries, hawthorn, juniper, lamb s-quarters, locust, mesquite, mulberries, oak, palmetto, pecan, pinyon, prickly pears, raspberries, screwbeans, seed grasses, strawberries, sumac, sunflowers, texas persimmons, walnuts, western yellow pine, wild cherries, wild grapes, wild onions, wild plums, wild potatoes, wild roses, yucca flowers, , yucca fruit. other items include: salt obtained caves , honey.

plants utilized plains apache include: chokecherries, blackberries, grapes, prairie turnips, wild onions, , wild plums. numerous other fruits, vegetables, , tuberous roots used.