Page 4 
Aquilegia 
Vol. 29 No. 3 
USEFUL NATIVE PLANTS IN THE SAN 
LUIS VALLEY 
Donald L. Hazlett, Ph.D. 
Project funded by the CON PS Research Grant 
Program 
Thanks to a grant from the Colorado 
Native Plant Society, I was able to under- 
take ethnobotanical field work and market 
surveys in the San Luis Valley, Colorado. 
During July 2004, I spent nearly a week 
conducting interviews and in efforts to 
document the common names (usually in 
Spanish) and uses of native plants found in 
the field, in stores and in pharmacies. I 
interviewed residents in La Jara, Capulin, 
Antonito, Sanford, Manassa, San Luis, and 
Alamosa. Two days were spend collecting 
plants from La Botica, a canyon section of 
La Jara creek. Permission was always 
secured before surveying private lands. I 
secured a B.L.M. plant collection permit to 
collect La Botica. La Botica was a source 
of herbal plants for Spanish pioneer resi- 
dents of the San Luis Valley (Bye and 
Linares, 1986. J. Ethnobiology 6(2): 289- 
305). 
From the many interviews that were under- 
taken in many parts of the San Luis Valley 
it became clear that there has been a 
decline in local plant knowledge since Bye 
and Linares interviewed in this area in 
1986. Part of this decline is due to mar- 
keting restrictions. Local grocery stores 
and pharmacies can not simply package up 
a local plant part and sell it like they used 
to. There are now enforced guidelines in 
place (several herbals stores told of visits 
from regulatory agencies) that include 
packaging and labeling requirements for 
all plant materials that are sold. These 
restrictions seem to have reduced the num- 
ber of local herbal remedies that are for 
sale. The most popular plant uses reported 
was the native osha ( Ligusticum porteri ). 
The osha common name (sometimes called 
osha del jardin or garden osha) was also 
used for European lovage (. Levis ticum ), a 
plant that was fairly common in gardens, 
especially in the town of San Luis. 
There are currently a number of corpora- 
tions that have followed the herbal market- 
ing rules and have placed a wide variety of 
packaged herbs for sale, both exotic and 
native. Among these are Mojave Food 
Corporation (Los Angeles, CA), Lisy 
Corporation (Miami, FL), Apoteca 
Moderna (Santa Ana, CA, Phoenix, AZ, 
and Enesenada, Mexico), La India Packing 
Company, Inc. (Laredo, TX), and Caridad 
del Cobre Botanica y Yerbaeria (Denver, 
CO). The plant common names on these 
products include a serendipitous mix of 
exotic and local plant names. The label 
common names occasionally include sci- 
entific names. These labels will often lead 
you to a scientific name in the literature, 
but don't trust the literature name. The 
only sure way to make a correct identifi- 
cations is to closely examine the plant 
parts from these packages. In this fashion 
it is sometimes possible to link an expect- 
ed scientific name to the common name on 
a label. 
During 2005 I collected dozens of pack- 
aged herbs with Spanish names from a 
variety of stores in southern Colorado. I 
also collected 61 plant specimens from the 
La Botica area of La Jara canyon. I have 
since identified most of the plant speci- 
mens and most of the packaged herbals (at 
least to genus). The herbarium specimens 
collected from La Botica were identified 
and a literature search is being done to 
determine what proportion of these have 
well-known ethnobotanical uses. For the 
packaged specimens the Spanish common 
names and uses are being compiled into a 
glossary of Spanish names for native 
Colorado plants. Some of these Spanish 
common names are available in the recent 
publication of Comanche National 
Grassland plants (USD A General 
Technical Report RMRS-GTR-130). 
Otherwise, the glossary is a work in 
progress that currently has over 250 
Spanish common names. I gratefully 
acknowledge and thank the Colorado 
Native Plant Society for helping fund this 
ethnobotanical research effort. 
New Committee Chairs 
The Board of Directors has filled vacan- 
cies for two committee chairs and encour- 
ages members to contact them. 
Conservation Committee Chair Sarada 
Krishnan has been active in the Boulder 
Chapter. She is currently Director of 
Horticulture at the Butterfly Pavilion and 
has written a book, Butterfly Gardening: A 
Guide for Colorado Gardeners. Sarada 
has a M.S. in Horticulture from Colorado 
State University where she did her thesis 
research on propagation of native shrubs. 
She is starting a Ph.D. program in 
Conservation Biology at the University of 
Colorado, Boulder. As Conservation 
Committee Chair, she will establish a 
working committee and gather information 
in order to develop and prioritize goals for 
the coming year. To become involved with 
the Conservation Committee, contact 
Sarada at 303-465-4274, or 
skrishnan @ butterfile s . org . 
Education and Outreach Committee 
Chair Megan Bowes is a plant enthusiast 
who has been involved in multiple ecolog- 
ical and horticultural pursuits for nearly 15 
years. Megan recently received her B.A. 
from the University of Colorado at 
Boulder with a dual major in 
Environmental Studies and EPO Biology. 
She is currently employed by the City of 
Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks 
Department, where she works on vegeta- 
tion monitoring programs. She is a volun- 
teer naturalist with Boulder County Parks 
and Open Space and a steward with the 
Colorado Natural Areas Program. Megan 
wants to expand outreach programs and 
would appreciate hearing about any 
upcoming events at which the CONPS 
booth might be beneficial. Please contact 
Megan at 303-561-4883 (h), 720-564-2084 
(w), or email bowesm@ci.boulder.co.us. 
Ligusticum porteri 
