Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DEPARTMENT
Native Plant Species
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Iris
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Yerba Buena
BAY LAUREL (PEPPERWOOD)
Kashaya Pomo: behem?, Southern Pomo: bahsa, Coast Miwok Name: sow'-las
*Kashaya Pomo
Umbellularia californica
Species Description:
Leaf: Alternate, simple, persistent, elliptical to lanceolate, 3 to 5 inches long, very aromatic when
crushed, dark green and shiny above and paler and smooth below, margins entire. When crushed
they may irritate the eyes and nose.
Flower: Monoecious; perfect, inconspicuous, small and yellowish.
Fruit: A bluish black, olive-like drupe about 3/4 inch in diameter, attached to the tree with a yellow stalk
that resembles a golfer's tee.
Twig: Round, slender, smooth, and initially light green, turning gray-brown with age.
Bark: Young bark is thin, smooth, and gray-brown; mature bark becomes thin, reddish brown, and
somewhat scaly.
Form: A large, broad-leaved evergreen tree reaching 100 feet tall and 2 to 5 feet in diameter, often
has multiple stems arising from basal sprouts. Has a dome-shaped crown in the open.
Habitat Description:
Common in canyons and valleys in chapparral, woodland, mixed evergreen forest, redwood forest.
USE:
FOOD:
The fruint (hat') was dried in the sun until the thick outer covering loosened and split. The thick fleshy end
of the husk (qalam?) was eaten raw at this stage. The kernel (behe) was roasted until dark-brown and
crisp, into a meal which was made into little flat cakes which were dried in teh sun and stored for winter
use. the kernels, either roasted whole of in the form of meal cakes, were eaten with greens, with buck-
eye meal, with acorn meal and mush, and with seaweed.
MEDICINAL:
The leaves (3-4) were boiled with a cup of water to make a dark tea and the solution was used to wash sores or taken internally to treat colds and sore throats. when drunk the solution clears up slime in the chest. This is also used for menstrual cramps and clotting and is taken internally. The leaves were also used to make a poultice for rheumatic and neuralgic pains. The earthy kind of Indian doctor would sing and hit you with the branches to pepperwood to cure a pain or headache or cold.
Misc:
The plant is very sacred to the Kashaya Pomo because of its ceremonial uses. Small leafy branches are hung in the homes for protection against any harm that might come into the homes. Leaves were rubbed on a man's body before he went hunting to take the body smell away.
When women are menstruating they are not allowed to touch the pepperwood or go near the gathering area or tree branches because this would ruin the tree or plant.
Harvest Season: Fruit: Mid Fall, Leaves: Year round
* Kashaya information from Violet Chappell, Vivian Wilder, Eric Wilder and Kashaya Pomo Plants: Jennie Goodrich, Claudia Lawson and Vana Parrish Lawson.
**Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
Species Description: California laurel is a perennial, evergreen tree or shrub. The trees have many slender erect branches and a dense crown that can be rounded to pyramidal in shape. The height is variable depending on conditions and the plants can grow from 3 to 45 meters tall. The smallest forms are found under dry conditions and they reach their greatest size on deep alluvial soils near rivers.
Habitat Description: California laurel trees are abundant near water sources in alluvial flood plains as well as shady hillsides and canyons below 1600 meters. The trees occur in oak woodlands, mixed evergreen forest, redwood forest, and chaparral. In chaparral communities they grow in canyons, valleys, and sometimes in high rocky areas were they are able tap into moisture.
Native American Use: All parts of the plant, but especially the leaves, contain an aromatic camphor-like volatile oil that has cooling, irritant, insecticidal and germicidal qualities. Laurel leaves were tucked into and under hats or into headbands made of laurel twigs to relieve headaches. Some tribes treated sudden fits and probably headaches by making a headband of the aromatic
laurel leaves The Pomo made a poultice of laurel leaves that was used to treat rheumatism and treated headaches by placing a single leaf in the nostril or bathing the head with a laurel leaf infusion. Laurel leaf tea was drunk to treat stomach aches, colds, sore throats, and to clear up mucus in the lungs. The leaves were steeped in hot water to make an infusion that was used to wash sores. Laurel leaves were steeped in baths for rheumatic patients. Infusions of the leaves were used to rid the head of lice. Leaves and branches were placed around the yard to discourage fleas. Both the flesh and the inner kernel of the olive-like fruit (pepper nuts) were used as food.
Harvest Season: Fall
** FIGR information from USDA website collected and compiled in Native Plant Field Guide: Nick Tipon
***Coast Miwok
*** Isabel Kelly . 1991. Intervews with Tom Smith and Maria Copa: Isabel Kelly's Ethnographic Notes on the Coast Miwok Indians of Marin and Southern Sonoma Counties, California, edited by Mary E. T. Collier and Sylvia Barker Thalman. MAPOM Occasional Papers No. 6, MAPOM, San Rafael.
Umbellularia californica,
Map information from the USDA and CALFLORA websites.
