Foraging Native Plants: Look to Your Own Backyard

Native plants play an important role in living sustainably.  They furnish habitat, create shade, improve the soil and provide edible and craft materials.   To put it simply, California natives are remarkable additions to the garden ecosystem. But it’s important to remember that these plants are also critical components of natural ecosystems.

The increased interest in edible and medicinal native plants creates several unintended consequences.   Most important is the overuse of natural stands of native plants growing in the wild.   This is not just a problem in California; over-collecting of native plants is a critical issue world-wide, leading to the extinction of entire plant species.

While some California native plants are still common, others are rare – even endangered - in the wild.  Humans have played a key role, primarily by destroying habitat (building houses, roads, etc.).  Global climate change is putting further pressures on wild plants and animal populations. 

To stress wild populations further by wild foraging is unsound.  In fact, there are legal, health/safety, practical and ethical/stewardship reasons to limit wildland foraging.  For more see: http://mother-natures-backyard.blogspot.com/2016/06/sustainable-living-foraging-for-native.html

Lemonadeberry (Lemonade sumac) – Rhus integrifolia

Lemonadeberry (Rhus integrifolia).  Entrance to Garden of Dreams.
CSU Dominguez Hills

We have several Lemonadeberry shrubs growing on the CSUDH campus.  This is a true Southern California shrub, growing from south of Santa Barbara to Baja California, Mexico.   While primarily a coastal species, it ranges east to Riverside County, appearing in the Coastal Strand, Coastal Sage Scrub and Chaparral plant communities.   Typically it grows in drier canyons, either on north-facing slopes or slopes/bluffs facing the ocean.  A lowland species, Lemonadeberry is rarely found above about 2500 ft. (900 m.) elevation, its distribution likely limited by freezing temperatures.

Lemonadeberry is a large evergreen shrub, reaching a maximal height of 6-10 ft. in protected areas and 2-3 ft. along the immediate coast.  It is usually somewhat wider than tall, spreading to as much as 10-12 ft. in diameter in favored spots.  Interestingly, it can be kept to a much smaller size with regular pruning

 

Learn more about Lemonadeberry at: http://mother-natures-backyard.blogspot.com/2014/12/plant-of-month-december-lemonadeberry.html

 

 

CSUDH student measures Lemonadeberry.  Palos Verdes peninsula.

 

Flavored Vinegars using California Native Plants

Did you know that some California native plants can be used as spices or to make flavored (infused) vinegars?   Learn more at: http://mother-natures-backyard.blogspot.com/2014/01/california-gourmet-making-flavored.html

California Native Plants Provide Edible Greens

Did you know that some California native plants are edible?  For more see: http://mother-natures-backyard.blogspot.com/2013/03/california-gourmet-recipes-for-native.html