Summer 2021 Newsletter

Ethnobotany Stories 

By Ally Arganbright, AMLT Communications Intern 

Ethnobotany is the study of the human relationship with plants. Each AMLT newsletter will highlight a native plant that is used by the Amah Mutsun. We hope you enjoy learning more about the useful and culturally significant plants all around us.

Mutsun name: hitna

English common name: Blue elderberry 

Botanical name: Sambucus nigra ssp. caerulea 

Blue elderberry (hitna) is a shrub that typically grows 5 to 12 feet tall, though some can soar to heights of 20 feet. They typically grow along streams and mixed riparian forests, or open savannas in California’s Central Valley. Elderberry flowers in spring/early summer and fruit can be harvested in the summer. This plant is fire tolerant and responds well to Indigenous burning and pruning to mimic prescribed burning. It has been reported that pruning and burning of the plant enhances the quality of the branches for various cultural uses. Some of the cultural uses of elderberry include: cooking or drying the berries to be eaten; using parts of the plant to treat colds; and using the wood for clapper sticks, flutes, and fire drills. 

We are excited to share this information about blue elderberry with you as AMLT embarks on a new project to explore cultivating elderberry and other culturally significant native shrubs in a hedgerow context. This project, which is funded by a grant from the Native American Agriculture Foundation, aims to develop and implement a collaborative pilot project to design, establish, cultivate, and harvest  foods, medicines, and cultural materials from hedgerows composed of native species that are culturally significant to the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. This represents the beginning efforts of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to restore Tribal food sovereignty in part through cultivation of culturally significant species in an agricultural setting. 

This year AMLT is planning to host events for Amah Mutsun tribal members to learn more about the cultivation of elderberry plants and start the design of the hedgerows. We look forward to sharing more about this project as it develops! 

Please do not reproduce this material without permission.