The aboriginal utilization of the tall cacti in the American Southwest
Castetter EF and Bell WH. 1937. The aboriginal utilization of the tall cacti in the American Southwest. University of New Mexico Biological Series, University of New Mexico Bulletin. 5(1):9-13, 42-48
Ethnobotanist writing in 1937 describes the early historical reports of the botany and range of the saguaro and petahaya and their uses by local native groups, particularly the Papago of Southern Arizona/Northern Sonora. The Coronado expedition of 1540-42 is mentioned, as is Benavides (1630), Onate (1640), Padre Kino (1687), Anza (1774), Emory (1846). Harvesting of the fruit is described with "use a stick which was used for "detaching the fruit from the top of the petahaya, a plant of the cylindrical cactus species, growing from eight to twenty feet in height." Cactus camps for processing the fruit and its use in ceremonial celebrations are mentioned.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Castetter, Edwin; Bell, Willis
- Units
- SAGU
- Keywords
- ethnobotany, expeditions, Food supply, Papago, Saguaro, Saguaro cactus as food