Cactus & Succulent Society
of New Zealand (CSSNZ)

Ethnobotany in C&S

Uses of C&S through history

SUCCULENTS

• Agaves- Native Americans wove the leaves into baskets and mats.
  
• Agaves- juice from young flower stalks is used to make an intoxicating drink known as pulque (especially tequila).
  
• Agave angustifolia- used for making mescal, an alcoholic beverage also.
  
  
• Aloe- all though history Aloes have been used for their anaesthetic (pain-relief), antibacterial and tissue healing properties. Taken internally for stomach disorders, constipation, insomnia, haemorrhoids, headaches, mouth and gum disease and externally for relief of x-ray burns, and sunburn from the sun.
  
• Aloes - native Africans cook and eat the flowers like a vegetable.
  
• Aloe vera - is well known for use in burn creams and cosmetics.
  
  
• Euphorbia antisyphilitica - Candelilla - The stem wax is used for making candles, soaps and ointments.
  
• Euphorbia hirta - The caustic latex is used to remove warts.
  
• Euphorbias - the toxic latex is used to stun fish and therefore make them easier to catch.
  
  
• Fouquieria splendens- (ocotillo) Apache Indians ground the roots into a powder and mixed it with warm water to make a soothing bath to relieve fatigue, or applied to wounds to stop bleeding, or swollen joints and grazes to reduce swelling. Branches made excellent firewood. They also used to make a "living" fence to keep out/in animals.
  
  
• Sedums - Native Americans, ancient Romans, Russian peoples and the Japanese believed sedums had special powers or qualities. They grew the plants for their malic acid or planted them above the doorways of their dwelling to keep away lightning or evil. Also used to treat gout.
  
  
• Sempervivum - house leek-put on roof tops in Europe to protect against lightening and evil spirits.
  
  
• Yucca- Root used by the Southwest desert natives for arthritic and rheumatic pains. Fibres used for weaving. Flower stalks, blossoms and seeds of all yucca species were all eaten.
  
• Yucca elata - Soap tree. Rich in chemicals (sapogenins) that produce lather in water.
  
  
• Hoodia gordonii has had a lot of publicity lately as it's use as an appetite suppressant in African tribe ceremonies, and therefore a modern use as a potential drug for weight control or for diabetes control.

CACTI

Cacti played in important rule in the survival of ancient peoples in the Americas, because of the harsh, dry lands it was an excellent source of food (esp. fruits), fibre, building material etc etc.. Along with this they quite often played a religious part as well e.g. Peyote, a medicinal role, or legendary role e.g. the Mexican Flag with it's design of an eagle perched on an Opuntia, as foretold to the peoples of where they should build their new city/empire.

• Opuntia - Fruits (tuna - especially O. ficus-indica) are eaten, as are pads once spines scrapped or burnt off. Their use is recorded way back into history and has become mythical.
  Pads of prickly pear cactus (Opuntia species) were cleaned of their spines, split in half, warmed and used to treat rheumatism, asthma, earaches, and haemorrhoids. Pads could also be used as a poultice for insect bites, snakebites, burns, rashes, sunburn and minor abrasions. The juice of the prickly pear was used for minor rashes, sunburn, and windburn.
  The Hopi used roots of cholla cactus (Opuntia species) to treat diarrhoea, and Navajos used cholla to treat arthritis.
  Early settlers in west Texas, cultivated large prickly pear cactus fences around their homesteads to fend off wild animals. Opuntia, which can survive drought, is a useful food for cattle, sheep and goats especially the specially hybridised spineless forms.
  Cochineal, an insect that produces a red dye, was a very important industry before the advent of synthetic dyes, and was "cultivated" on the opuntias, the plants and insects were also were brought back to Europe for this purpose.
  Because of Opuntias importance it is found around the world, due to human intervention, like Sicily, Canary Islands and throughout the Mediterranean, Africa and Australia (where is now considered a pest/noxious weed).
  
  
• Carnegiea gigantea (saguaro) - Provides homes for wildlife like woodpeckers. The fruit is a food source for Indians and seeds ground up provided a flour. The skeleton of the plant can be used for building and the cactus ribs were used as splints for broken bones.
  It was such importance to some tribes that they based their annual calendar around the life and seasonal cycle of the saguaro.
  
  
• Lophophora williamsonii (peyote) - has a chemical similar to LSD called mescaline. Members of the Native American Church are permitted to use peyote in religion under the US constitution.
  
  
• Trichocereus pachanoi (San Pedro) - like peyote above, contains chemicals of a hallucinary nature.
  Both of the above (plus other cacti containing hallucigens) played an important part in (religious) ceremonies dating back many thousands of years (maybe 6-7,000 years) and are represented in many drawings, statues, carvings etc. of a religious/sacramental nature.
  
  
• Fish hooks were made by ancient peoples from the spines of cacti.
  
  
• Fruits of Pachycereus, Opuntias, Carnegia, Stenocereus, Mytrillocactus, Echinocereus, Ferrocactus, Hylocereus, and Mammillaria are/were all eaten.

A searchable database on Native American Uses of plants . Type in Saguaro, Opuntia, Agave etc to get links to articles on uses of these plants.

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