74 ETHNO-BOTANY OF THE COAHUILLA INDIANS 



desert, and is especially abundant within the territory of the Coahuilla 

 on the slopes below Pinon Flats. It is a shrub of three feet or so in 

 height. The branches and twigs are greatly multiplied, while the 

 leaves are almost entirely absent, being reduced to mere sheathings 

 about the twigs. 



The ephedra has, I believe, well-known medicinal properties; cer- 

 tainly the tu-tut is much valued by the Coahuillas. Bunches of these 

 twigs are almost universally to be found tucked among the thatching 

 of every jacal or packed away in basket or olla. The tea steeped from 

 it forms a pleasant and refreshing beverage. 



Coville, in his notes on the Panamint Indians, reports that they 

 use the seeds of the Ephedra Nevadensis, roasting and grinding them 

 and making them into a bitter bread. 1 I have not discovered this use 

 of the seeds by the Coahuillas. 



Another shrub which yields its twigs for tea, but which I have never 

 seen growing, is called td-tu-ka. It would seem important to deter- 

 mine the species of this plant, but it is impossible to identify it from 

 the dried specimens in my possession. 



The Simmondsia California, Nutt., is a large shrub which bears a very 

 curious nut. It is inclosed in a sheath and is about a half inch in 

 length. It splits in half in such a way as to resemble closely a coffee 

 berry, and it is by this name that it is locally known. Dr. Havard 

 says that these nuts yield a very fine oil, and that the " Indians of 

 southern California use them as an article of food." The only use to 

 which they are put among the Coahuillas, who call the plant kbw-a- 

 nuk-al, is in the preparation of a beverage. The nuts are ground and 

 a " coffee" made by boiling the meal. 



53. Tobacco, as is well-known, is a native American product, and 

 its use among Indians nearly universal. There are several species 

 indigenous to the Pacific coast. Nicotiana quadrivalvis y var. multivalvis, 

 Gray, is said by Douglass to have been cultivated by the Indians of the 

 Columbia river. N. plumbaginifolia, Torr., is the wild species used, 

 according to Powers, by the Neeshenams of California, and N. attc- 

 nuata by the Klamaths, according to Schummacher. N. trigonophylla, 

 Dun., N. Bigelovii and N. attenuata were all used by the Indians of 

 Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and southern California, according to Dr. 

 Edward Palmer. 



N. attenuata, Torr., grows plentifully in the territory of the Coa- 

 huillas. It is quite a tall plant, two feet or so high, with gummy, 



1 American Anthropologist, Vol. V, p. 351. 



