Flora of the American Southwest During the Stone Age Part 2

     When I lived in the American Southwest I often saw these scraggly old trees. The trees were often spaced far apart and were curved from wind. I had to include them in my Stone Age Kids Solve a Giant Mystery children's book coming soon!


 Pinyon Pine Tree

    The Pinyon Pine Tree is a conifer meaning that it has needles all year long instead of leaves that fall every winter. It produces cones filled with seeds. These seeds are edible and known as pine nuts. They are not true nuts and are a staple in pesto sauce! The native tribes used a pole to dislodge the cones from the tree to harvest the seeds (pine nuts). They covered mounds of cones with brush and set it alight with fire to loosen the seeds from the cones. Good harvests came about every four years but storing pine nuts was always a sure thing! They grow up to 20 feet.

Prickly Pear Cactus

    The Prickly Pear Cactus is native to the Americas but is now found in many countries around the world. It is sometimes called the Paddle Cactus because of the paddle shaped leaves. It is easy to grow by planting a paddle in soil. The fruit ranges from green to orange to pinkish red and contain about 50 seeds per fruit. The plant pulp is edible so is the fruit and the seeds can be made into flour. The small spines are not edible and can cause irritation. The skin of the cactus can be used a faux leather and the juice can be is used to make bioplastic. 

Sagebrush 

    Foot Note: I used artistic license when drawing my Sagebrush. I couldn't draw the three bump leaves effectively, so I went with a 3/4 view of only two bumps! 

    Sagebrush is known for its strong odor. It is the main ingredient in some smudge sticks used for religious ceremonies by native tribes. It is toxic to humans but has many medicinal uses, including headache relief, infection prevention, and as an athlete's foot remedy. The only animal that eats Sagebrush is the Pronghorn. Sagebrush is a silvery gray with yellow flowers when in bloom. It is an evergreen but will drop some leaves at the end of summer. Sagebrush can grow to ten feet high, but I haven't seen one even half that tall! 

    Thank you for learning about the plants of the American Southwest with me! Part 3 coming soon. Please stay tuned to learn how you can help support my project! Share with those whom may be interested if you can! 

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