USEFUL NATIVE PLANTS OF NEW MEXICO—STANDLEY. 457 
the State are scattered thickets of the sand plum (Prunus watsoni) 
whose fruit is used for jams and jellies. The wild red plum (Prunus 
americana) is known in a few localities in the mountains. It is 
abundant about the pueblo of Taos whose inhabitants utilize all 
the fruit produced. In some parts of the State this plum seems to 
have escaped from cultivation but in places it is almost certainly 
indigenous. 
The buffalo berry (Lepargyrea argentea) grows in the San Juan 
Valley, a large shrub usually about 10 feet high, with silvery white 
leaves and clusters of very small currant-like berries. The fruit has a 
flavor not unlike that of the cultivated red currant and is gathered 
and preserved. Currants and gooseberries are seen everywhere in all 
the mountain ranges. Unfortunately the fruit of the wild currants 
is tasteless and insipid and is seldom used for food by the English- 
speaking people although employed by the Indians formerly and to 
some extent to-day. The native people used the fruit either fresh, 
or dried and preserved for winter. From the berries certain of the 
western tribes prepared an intoxicating beverage, one of the species, 
Ribes inebrians, receiving its specific name from this fact. One of the 
gooseberries (Grossularia pinetorum) is distinguished by having its 
fruit, while agreeable to the taste, so densely covered by sharp spines 
that it can not be eaten. Elderberries (Sambucus microbotrys and 
other species) grow in most of the mountains and in the lower Rio 
Grande Valley. All have edible ‘fruit that is sometimes gathered. 
The Mexican elderberry (Sambucus mexicana), which is frequent in 
cultivation in the Rio Grande Valley and may be native in some parts 
of the State, differs from the eastern species in becoming a good-sized 
tree. It is valuable as an ornamental plant because it is green nearly 
throughout the year and may put forth its blossoms even in January 
or February if there are a few days of mild weather. The algerita 
(Berberis haematocarpa), a native of the hills and dry canyons, is a 
barberry which bears quantities of juicy blood-red berries that are 
made into jellies. There are several other barberries, including the 
‘““Oregon grape” (Berberis repens), which grow in New Mexico, but 
never in sufficient abundance to furnish any considerable amount of 
fruit. One of the ground cherries (Physalis neomexicana), a trouble- 
some weed in cultivated land at higher elevations, makes excellent 
preserves, besides being prepared in other ways. 
The fruits that have been mentioned are nearly all that are used 
by the English-speaking people of the State, but in former times the 
Indians were compelled by the general scarcity of food to make use 
of many others, and some of the more primitive tribes, like the 
Navahos, still employ some of them. Among those whose fruit has 
been utilized are the lote bush (Zizyphus lycioides) and Condalia 
spathulata, low straggling desert shrubs of the southern mesas, the 
