Dermatophyllum secundiflorum (Ortega) Gandhi & Reveal
= Sophora secundiflora, Broussonetia secundifora, Calia erythrosperma, C. secundiflora
Texas mountain laurel, frijolillo, colorín
Apache: yułtudi – “red bead” (Castetter and Opler 1936:61)
Comanche: aincapu (Berlandier 1969:89, Ohlendorf et al. 1980:612)
Kiowa: k’awn-k’odl (Schultes 1937:138)
Location in Texas: C, SW, W, & S TX; common in Travis Co.
Form: small tree, up to 30 ft. Tall.
Flowers: Feb-Apr (blue, purple; strong fragrance comparable to artificial grape)
Medicine
Seeds – one bean’s contents may be sufficient to cause death (Castetter and Opler 1936:54, Vestal and Schultes 1939). The beans contain the alkaloid sophorine (Castetter and Opler 1936:54, Vestal and Schultes 1939).
A drink made with the bean was taken in small quantities to produce a form of intoxication by the Kiowa (LaVere 2006:141, Vestal and Schultes 1939), Asinai (Hatcher 1927c:56), Apache (Castetter and Opler 1936:54), Caddo (LaVere 2006:139), and Comanche (Carlson and Jones 1939:537, LaVere 2006:139).
Powder made by the Kiowa from the beans was used pure or added to drinks (Vestal and Schultes 1939). It was consumed at a Medicine Dance of the Kiowa, and the participants danced all night until exhaustion and the following dreams were of significance (LaVere 2006:141). Many Plains Indians used the mescal beans as an intoxicant in the red bean dance (Vestal and Schultes 1939). Sometimes it was mixed with tiswin, the fermented corn drink of the Apache (Castetter and Opler 1936:54). The beans were soaked in water by some reservation Caddo and Comanche and the infusion was drunk (LaVere 2006:139). They called this infusion “Jesus talk,” because they said, “when they drank it, they could hear Jesus talk” (LaVere 2006:139). It was described as a stimulant and euphoric by an Apache (Castetter and Opler 1936:54).
It was used as an emetic and laxative by agricultural tribes of Texas Indians (Berlandier 1969:89, 94, Ohlendorf et al. 1980:613).
The beans were crushed by the Mexican Kickapoo, combined with yarrow (Achillea millefolium) leaves and one-seed juniper (Juniperus monosperma) needle sprays, or tobacco, and their concentrated decoction cooled and dripped into an ear to treat earache (Latorre and Latorre 1977:352). The Kickapoo boiled the crushed beans, strained the material through cloth, and this decoction applied for earaches (Vestal and Schultes 1939).
Material
Seeds – the beans were used for beads or ornaments by the Comanche, such as on legging fringes (Carlson and Jones 1939:524,537, Kavanagh 2008:43,377).
Saplings – used for house construction by the Mexican Kickapoo (Latorre and Latorre 1977:343).
Notes – The seeds were attributed supernatural properties by agricultural tribes of Texas Indians, and they were never seen without it (Ohlendorf et al. 1980:613). The Comanche, Waco Wichita, Tonkawa, Tawehash, Tawakoni, Coshetta, and other agricultural tribes of Texas used the seeds to celebrate the important first fruits ceremonial celebrations (Berlandier 1969:89,144, Ohlendorf et al. 1980:613).
Upon finding the first ripe fruit of the year, they would convene to make a paste of the seeds, and put it in a pot of warm water, which they all drank one after another with a reed straw, and after singing and the emetic and purgative drink had purified them, and the effects had worn off, they smoked a blend of Rhus glabra (smooth upland sumac) leaves and Nicotiana sp. (tobacco) leaves, dedicating the smoke to the sun and earth, rubbed the ashes over the body and ate a feast of the first fruit all together (Ohlendorf et al. 1980:613, Berlandier 1969:94,144).
In an Apache story, coyote the trickster intoxicates a party of prospectors with the beans (Castetter and Opler 1936:54).
Experimentation
The beans make excellent beads. They are very hard and vibrantly colored. I sometimes find trees that produce beans with interesting color variations. Some have black spots or mottling, some are yellow, peach-colored, or a combination of these with the regular red. I have made large necklaces of the seeds and use them for various decorations.
I simply use an electric drill to create the holes for the beading, holding the bean with an adjustable wrench with its jaws wrapped in leather.
Growing up in the area where the beans are regularly found, other kids and I would use them for a mean joke, where we would secretly rub a bean really fast on a hard surface such as the sidewalk, then press it against another kid’s skin, whereupon it would transmit a burning sensation from the friction heat. It doesn’t cause any damage, but is painful.
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