Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION DEPARTMENT
Native Plant Species
© 2008 Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria | HOME | EDUCATION | WATER | AIR | WASTE | GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE | TOXIC/HAZARDOUS MATERIALS | ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE | RESOURCES | CONTACT
Species Description:
Evergreen shrubs, from low spreading to upright, sometimes a small tree, 4-8(20) ft (1.2-2.4(6) m) tall, often in rounded clumps. The buds are naked, brown and 3 mm long. Leaves alternate, simple, 4-6 cm long, oblong-elliptical with a rounded base and margins finely serrate to entire, sometimes rolled under (revolute). They are dark green above, paler and smooth below. Flowers small, greenish, few per cluster. Fruit clusters are 8 mm across, ripening from green to red then purple-black, contain 2 seeds which resemble the commercial coffee bean. They grow in sun or shade. They are not particular about soil and grow with limited or no moisture.
Habitat Description:
A shrub component of chaparral, woodland, and forest communities. It thrives in sun or shade and is not particular about the soil it is in.
Native American Use:
- Coffeeberry's laxative effect upon people has limited its consumption to medicinal purposes. People have made an extraction from the crushed bark that, in addition to its purgative effect, caused nausea and dizziness.
- Other tribes have made a powder from the bark by drying it and grinding it in a stone mortar or have seeped the berries in water to make a laxative tonic.
Harvest Season: Summer and Fall
Coast Miwok Name: po’tah or ko’tah
Southern Pomo: sa? bas bak le
C O F F E E B E R R Y - Scientific Name: Rhamnus californica
Iris
Gumplant
Huckleberry
Ithurieal’s Spear
Seaweed
Jimson Weed
Lupine
Mugwort
Redbud
Redwood
Rush
Salmon Berry
Seaweed
Sedge
Showy Indian Clover
Silverweed
Soaproot
Strawberry
Sunflower
Tobacco
Toyon
Valley oak
Wax Myrtle
Willow
Yarrow
Yerba Buena
