Popular Studies of California Wild Flowers 35 



Oak. Its green berries chewed slightly and held in the mouth will 

 quench the thirst of travelers on hot, dry hillsides where water is 

 sometimes almost as scarce as in the desert regions. 



In the days of the Red Man, Manzanita tracts were recognized 

 by family or tribal rights, and the squaws regularly harvested or 

 threshed the berries into their big burden baskets. The Indians ate 

 the fruit both in its raw state or dried and pounded into "Pinole" 

 (a meal), often cooked as mush. They also made a cider from its 

 berries, which they used as we would vinegar with greens. They 

 greatly relished this Manzanita cider, served with Lupines, which 

 had been boiled in water with the aid of hot stones. It may be said 

 that these berries were a staple food with the Indians and grizzly 

 bears in the early days of California, both being able to digest the 

 rather dry, puckery seeds, which are not so agreeable to civilized 

 palates. But it was the Arctostaphylos uva-ursi which was the true 

 "Kini-kinnick" of the Western Indians. They preferred its berries 

 and used its foliage, not only for medicinal purposes, but in the 

 curing of animal skins. The old chieftains were wont to manu- 

 facture a harmless tobacco from its leaves, which they dried and 

 powdered and smoked on ceremonial occasions in their "pipes of 

 peace." 



The Manzanita is of special interest because of its wonderful 

 root system. Many a pioneer clearing his land to set out a vine- 

 yard or orchard, learned that there was far more wood under the 

 ground, in the Manzanita roots, than in the little twisted limbs 

 above ; and the wood makes a splendid fuel, being esteemed in the 

 old days of the barbecue for roasting meats over the steady heat of 

 its coals, which burned for a long time because of the oil in the 

 wood. 



These shrubs often form a large percentage of the chaparral 

 belt, so characteristic a fe.ature of California foothills and mountains. 

 It is to such shrubs as the Manzanita and Ceanothus that California 

 is indebted for the protection of its water sheds in the chaparral belt. 

 They help to conserve the water. The Manzanita is well able to 

 resist fires, which in the ages past were often set by the Indians to 

 trap game, which at times burned over great sections of the forests. 

 It was fortunate that Manzanitas had their root systems so well 

 established that when fires came along and their tops burned off, 

 they were able to send up new and vigorous growths the following 

 year. There are regions on Mt. Tamalpais which furnish striking- 

 illustrations of this kind. The Manzanita is very hardy, growing 

 in dry and rocky soils as well as in the shade of big trees, where it 

 is sometimes confused, by superficial observers, with its close relative, 

 the Madrona (Bret Harte's famous "Robin Hood of the Western 

 Wood"). It greatly resembles the Madrona in the color of its wood 

 and in the manner of shedding its bark, and there is a certain simi- 

 larity between their blossoms, but there the similarity ends. For 

 the Madrona is a fine and shapely tree, frequently forming park-like 

 groves in the lower foothills ; its blossoms more nearly resemble the 

 Lily-of-the- Valley ; its rather large berries are a bright orange- 

 yellow in color, while the berries of the Manzanita are dark red and 



