Paleo Foraging

Ephedra nevadensis S. Watson

Nevada jointfir

Cahuilla: tú-tut (Barrows 1967:73) / tutut (Bean and Saubel 1972:70)

Form: shrub, low shrub.

Flowers: Feb-May (yellow, brown).

Food

Seeds – roasted by shaking in a basket with live coals, ground into a meal, and made into a bitter bread by the Panamint (Coville 1892:353). Seeds were ground into meal and eaten as mush by the Cahuilla (Bean and Saubel 1972:70).

Branches – highly prized as a tea by the Cahuilla (Barrows 1967:74, Bean and Saubel 1972:70). Fresh or dried twigs were boiled until the water was darkly tinted (Bean and Saubel 1972:70). They were dried and stored in abundance very commonly (Bean and Saubel 1972:70). A tea was drunk by the Papago (Castetter and Underhill 1935:25).

Gathering Season – branches for tea: late summer (Bean and Saubel 1972:70).