NMSU Anthropology Seed Bank Donation
Native Plants
Papaloquelite (Porophyllum ruderale)
Papaloquelite is a Classical Nahuatl compound word composed of pāpalōtl (“butterfly”) + quilitl (“edible herb, greens”). It has additional names including yerba porosa. The plant is apparently also used in Bolivia.
Papalo is an annual that sprouts when the weather turns really warm, like in the high 80’s and low 90’s. It is not an early sprouter like some of the beans. However, papalo grows well in Las Cruces and thrives in very poor soil.
When the weather turns warm, we clear a small area, mark a line with a stick or a finger, sprinkle papalo seed in the trough, gently cover, and water well for the next several days. Within probably 4-5 days, they will start to show up. Don’t bury the seeds too deeply, and once they sprout they take less water.
The plant does well with very little irrigation but will grow vigorously if provided good soil and water. The foliage has a texture difficult to describe, it is waxy and soft. The plant surely gets its name from the unique leaves. We have observed papalo growing wild in the Catalina mountains in Tucson.
Papalo has a very strong flavor, it emits an odor when brush past in the garden. We read that in Mexico it is used on tacos. We only use it fresh, generally chopped in a pico de gallo of some kind. When the weather is too hot for cilantro, papalo is growing well.
Bees really like the flowers. We are convinced that we’ve seen native bees visiting. The seed are easy to save but quite delicate.
O’odham Pink Bean, Wepegi Mu:n (Phaseolus vulgaris)
This bean was sourced to Native Seed SEARCH and collected among the Tohono O’odham in southern Arizona.
A traditional harvest includes uprooting the entire plant, leaving it out to dry and then threshing the plant with sticks to remove the pods before they are winnowed in the wind.
– NS/S catalog entry for Wepegi Mu:n
This pink bean is a vigorous and productive sprawling bush bean. It grows well in Las Cruces and grows in poor soil. We grow it in quantity to eat as green beans and to save for dried and cooked beans. It is possible to get two harvests: one from early spring up to the peak heat of the summer and a second after the peak heat and before it cools off. It is relatively easy to harvest and has a fantastic flavor.
Devil’s Claw (Proboscidea parviflora)
This plant has edible fruit whose fibers are also used for basketry. The flavor is a wonderful bitter and is somewhat similar to okra. We cut devils claw into small pieces and saute them in olive oil with cumin seed. They can also be pickled. Devil’s claw must be eaten young. The fruits become woody quickly. Once it is difficult to cut through the fruit, we find them unpleasant to eat. Our plants are incredibly productive every year. We always have fruits left over because they are hard to stay on top of. Dried, the pods are wonderful interesting decorative shapes.
We understand the plant is in the sesame family. Sprouting the seed can be facilitated by peeling it, but is not necessary. Peeling requires care but is not particularly difficult. The outer hard husk is split along the suture of the two halves of the hard seed coat, the seed coat is peeled back revealing a small white seed inside. The seed will likely stick to one side of the seed coat, its fine to plant it like that. Once sprouted, it requires little to no irrigation. With a little irrigation it can be a large sprawling plant, even in relatively poor soil. It has a wonderful flower.
Non-Native Plants
Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata)
A native of Africa, cowpeas were cultivated by native people of the southwest and are well suited to the arid heat of Las Cruces. Common beans won’t produce during the hottest months of the Chihuahuan and Sonoran desert summers. Cowpeas produce longer into the heat than common beans and flower nearly all through the summer. We eat them as green beans when they are young, and when they get old we save them for dried beans. The young leaves are also edible, but we generally leave them so that the plants get bigger.
Our cowpea was obtained from the Pima County Seed Library, and we aren’t entirely sure what kind it is. The variety was listed as u’us mu:ñ which has very distinctive mottling, but this variety looks like a regular cowpea. Recently we’ve gotten some individuals come out that are large sprawling plants with smaller black seeds. We are saving those separately. While we don’t know exactly what these cowpeas are, they grow great and seem to have some interesting genetics that have come out over probably five seasons of growing them.
We plant cowpeas after the last frost. Often the early planted ones slow down, and we do a second planting after the peak summer heat.
Eagle Pass Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus)
Another African native, this variety comes from Eagle Pass Texas. It is said to have little of the slimy texture that some people object to in okra. It is a shorter stubby fruit with a wonderful flavor and relatively few spines.
Okra requires lots of nitrogen. Our soil lacks sufficient nitrogen to really get okra productive. Okra will respond to nitrogen amendments if they are available.
Armenian Cucumber (Cucumis melo var. flexuosus)
We’re not yet sure of the origin of Armenian Cucumber, but it is grown in Egypt, Turkey, India, Japan. We understand the plant is not a cucumber but rather a type of musk melon. When the fruits get older they can take on a very melon sent and flavor.
Armenian cucumbers are generally best eaten young. They make an excellent refrigerator pickle and mix well with other ingredients. We often pair Armenian cucumber with Mexican tarragon (Tagetes lucida) as a seasoning. Armenian cucumber can also be cooked and the fruit holds up well under prolonged heating–like chayote (Sechium edule) but not as firm. It works well in soups, or can be cooked into pasta sauce, etc. Older fruits are best cooked.
This plant grows fast and benefits from trellising. However, it can be left to sprawl on the ground but can take up space. Armenian cucumber sprouts once the summer begins to heat up, perhaps as early as late spring.
Magdalena Acelgas or Swiss Chard (Beta vulgaris subsp. vulgaris)
A family heirloom from Magdalena, Sonora, donated by Jesus Garcia and grown out at the Mission Garden Project of Tucson. This variety has shorter stems than most modern chard varieties. Grows well in the winter and through the summer in the low desert.
–NS/S catalog entry for Magdalena Acelgas
We find them incredibly productive and delicious. They reseed easily. If covered, these will grow throughout the winter. We have a small patch that pretty much grows year round.
Verdolagas or Golden Purslane (Portulaca oleracea)
A native plant of India and lauded by Ghandi, praised by the Greeks as medicine, and then it somehow arrived in the Americas prior to Columbus. This is a storied plant to say the least. It is incredibly nutritious. Purslane is also high in oxalic acids. For plants with high oxalic acid content (amaranth, dock, fat hen, oxalis, and purslane), Adam Grubb and Annie Raser-Rowland suggest either pairing with dairy when eating them fresh or cooking.
Regardless of what one calls it, purslane contains more omega 3 fatty acids than any other plant source in the solar system, and an extraordinary amount for a plant, some 8.5 mg for every gram of weight. It has vitamin A, B, C and E — six times more E than spinach — beta carotene — seven times more of that than carrots — magnesium, calcium, potassium, folate, lithium — keep you sane — iron and is 2.5% protein.
–Eat the Weeds entry for Purslane
Verdolagas grows very well in Las Cruces and with a bit of water can thrive in poor soil. Given good conditions it is extremely productive. We eat it in quantity during the summer but still end up chopping and freezing bags of it each year. The seeds are easy to save while washing the plant.
Tulsi
Tulsi is a sacred plant of India and is associated with a goddess of the same name. It is important to both Vaishnavites and Shaivites.
We aren’t venturing a species or variety on this one. We purchased it in a seed packet that was not very specific. There are many tulsi’s, and our understanding is that most would not survive well in Las Cruces. There are however some temperate tulsi’s. We suspect that this is one.
This tulsi does well in the summer heat and is more resistant to cold than any of our basil plants. It has a strong peppery flavor and makes a wonderful tea.
Citation
@online{craig2022,
author = {Craig, Nathan},
title = {NMSU {Anthropology} {Seed} {Bank} {Donation}},
date = {2022-02-27},
url = {https://nmc.quarto.pub/nmc/posts/2022-02-26-nmsu-anth-seed-donation.html},
langid = {en}
}