Abstract
Deergrass (Muhlenbergia rigens, Poaceae), a once abundant and widespread native perennial bunchgrass in California, was utilized extensively by at least twenty tribes for its flower stalks, incorporated into many types of coiled baskets. The craft of coiled basketry required the annual harvesting of thousands of culms by each village and the frequent setting of small-scale fires in many plant community types to eliminate detritus, recycle nutrients, increase culm production and prohibit shrub or tree encroachment. Detailed examination of Native American past fire management practices will provide insights into the cultural processes that shaped various ecosystem states, and unravel the ecological principles embedded in ancient land management systems. There are at least 300 contemporary Native American weavers and the successful revival of basketry in California is inextricably tied to access to and availability of plant resources on public lands.
Resumen
L’herbe cervidée (Muhlenbergia rigens, angl. deergrass, Graminées), une espèce d’herbe touffue anciennement abondante et répandue en Californie, était utilisée considérablement pour ses tiges en fleurs par au moins vingt tribus qui employaient ceux-lá dans la fabrication de leurs corbeilles enroulées. L’artisanat de la vannerie enroulée nécessitait que chaque village amérindien menât une récolte annuelle des chaumes d’herbe et que l’on mît fréquemment des feux d’étendue limitée dans beaucoup de genres de communautés des plantes pour y occasionner l’élimination des détritus, le recyclage des élements nutritifs, l’augmentation de la production de chaumes et l’entrave de l’empiètement des arbres et des arbustes. Un examen detaillé des pratiques de la gestion du feu parmi les amérindiens nous permettra de mieux connaître les procédés culturels qui influaient sur des divers états des écosystèmes et de démêler les principes écologiques ancrés dans les systèmes anciens de la gestion du terrain. Il y a aujourd’hui quelques trois centaines de tisserands amérindiens, et la reprise de leur ancienne vannerie en Californie dépend inextricablement de l’accès à et l’existence de ressources des plantes dans les terres publiques. On devrait attirer l’attention de ceux qui mènent la gestion du terrain et qui formulent des politiques sur la grave diminution de l’habitat adéquat pour des populations de l’herbe cervidée.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
Literature Cited
Aginsky, B. W. 1943. Culture element distributions, XXIV, Central Sierra. University of California Anthropological Records 8:393–468. Berkeley.
Ahmed, E. O. 1983. Fire ecology ofStipa pulchra in California annual grassland. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of California, Davis.
Anderson, M. K. 1989–1992. Field notes, Western Mono, Chukchansi Yokuts, Wukchumni Yokuts, Southern Sierra Miwok, and Central Sierra Miwok, unpublished.
—. 1991. We are still here. Yosemite 53(4): 1–5.
—. 1992a. From burns to baskets. News from native California 6(2):22–23. Berkeley.
—. 1992b. Restoring deer grass. News from native California 6(2):40. Berkeley.
Barbour, M.,B. Pavlik,F. Drysdale, andS. Lindstrom. 1993. California’s changing landscapes: diversity and conservation of California vegetation. California Native Plant Society. Sacramento.
Barrett, S. A. 1906. Sterra Miwok field notes. Unpublished manuscript file, Accession 216, Phoebe Hearst Museum, University of California, Berkeley.
— andE. W. Gifford. 1933. Miwok material culture. Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee 2(4): 117–376.
Barrows, D. P. 1967. Ethnobotany of the Coahuilla Indians. Malki Museum Press. Morongo Indian Reservation, Banning
Barry, W. J. 1972. The Central Valley prairie. Vol. 1. California prairie ecosystem. California Dept. Parks and Recreation, Sacramento.
Bates, D. 1982. Coiled basketry of the Sierra Miwok: A study of regional variation. San Diego Museum Papers No. 15. San Diego Museum of Man, San Diego.
Bean, L. J. andK. S. Saubel. 1972. Temalpakh: Cahuilla Indian knowledge and usage of plants. Malki Museum Press, Morongo Indian Reservation.
Beemer, E. 1980. My Luiseno neighbors: excerpts from a journal kept in Pauma Valley Northern San Diego County, 1934 to 1974. Acoma Books, Ramona.
Beetle, A. A. 1947. Distribution of the native grasses of California. Hilgardia 17:309–57.
Bicknell, S. H.,A. T. Austin,D. J. Bigg, andR. Parker Godar. 1992. Late prehistoric vegetation patterns at six sites in coastal California. Supplement to Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, Program and Abstracts, 73(2): 112.
Blackburn T. C., andK. Anderson. 1993. Introduction: managing the domesticated environment. Pages 15–25in T. C. Blackburn and K. Anderson, eds., Before the wilderness: environmental management by Native Californians. Ballena Press, Menlo Park.
Blanchan, N. 1901. What the basket means to the Indian. Everybody’s Magazine 5(27):561–570.
Bowyer, R. T. andV. Bleich. 1984. Effects of cattle grazing on selected habitats of southern mule deer. California Fish and Game 70(4):240–247.
California Indian Basketweavers Association (CIBA). 1993. Bear grass update. CIBA newsletter No. 3.
Carr, J. 1892. Among the basket makers. The Californian 2(5):597–610.
Chesnut, V. K. 1974. Plants used by the Indians of Mendocino County California. Mendocino. Contributions from the U.S. National Herbarium Vol. VII.
Chever, E. E. 1870. The Indians of California. The American Naturalist 4(3): 129–148.
Crampton, B. 1974. Grasses in California. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Daubenmire, R. F. 1968. Ecology of fire in grasslands. Advances in Ecological Research 5:209–266.
Driver, H. E. 1937. Culture element distributions: VI southern Sierra Nevada. Anthropological Records 1:53–154. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Drucker, P. 1939. Culture element distributions: V Southern California. Anthropological Records 1:1–51. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Duncan, J. W. 1961. Maidu ethnobotany. Master’s Thesis. Sacramento State University.
Edwards, S. W. 1992. Observations on the prehistory and ecology of grazing in California. Fremontia 203–11.
Farmer, J. F. 1993. Preserving Diegueno basket weaving. Pages 141–147in C. L. Moser, Native American basketry of Southern California. Riverside Museum Press, Riverside.
Francis, M. E. 1904. How to make baskets. The House Beautiful 25(4):221–225.
Gifford, E. W. 1932. The Northfork Mono. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 31:15–65. University of California, Berkeley.
Harrington, J. P. 1942. Culture element distributions: XIX Central California coast. Anthropological Records 7:1–46. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Hatch, D.,J. Bartolome, andD. Hillyard. 1991. Testing a management strategy for restoration of California’s native grasslands. Pages 343–348in J. Edelbrock and S. Carpenter, eds., Yosemite centennial symposium proceedings natural areas and Yosemite: prospects for the future. October 13-20, 1990. The Yosemite Fund, San Francisco.
Heady, H. F. 1988. Valley grassland. Pages 491–514in M. G. Barbour and J. Major, eds., Terrestrial vegetation of California. Wiley-Interscience, New York.
Heizer, R. F. 1955. Analysis of tribes signing the eighteen unratified 1851-1852 California treaties. Prepared for use in Dockets 31-37, Indian Claims Commission. Manuscript No. 443 in the University of California Archaeological Research Facility, Berkeley.
Hickman, J. [Ed.]. 1993. The Jepson manual: higher plants of California. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Holmes, W. H. 1900. Anthropological studies in California. Pages 155–187in Smithsonian Institution, Annual Report of the National Museum. Washington D.C.
Hudson, J. W. 1901–1904. Manuscript in the Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, Illinois. Manuscript 7, unpublished.
-. 1901a. Western Mono field notes #20.001. Grace Hudson Museum Archive Collection, Ukiah, unpublished.
-. 1901b. Foothill Yokuts field notes #20.003. Grace Hudson Museum Archive Collection, Ukiah, unpublished.
-. n.d. Field notes Yosemite/Central Miwok. Grace Hudson Museum Archive Collection, Ukiah, unpublished.
Hulbert, L. 1969. Fire and litter effects in undisturbed bluestem prairie in Kansas. Ecology 50: 874–877.
Hunter, J. E. 1988. Prescribed burning for cultural resources. Fire Management Notes 9:2(8–9). U.S. Forest Service. Orleans Ranger District, Six Rivers National Forest.
Institute of Archaeology, U.C.L.A. 1988. Success Lake intensive cultural resources survey. Tulare County. Contact # DACW05-83-C0107. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District.
Knapp, A. K. andT. R. Seastedt. 1986. Detritus accumulation limits productivity of tallgrass prairie. Bioscience 36:662–668.
Komarek, F. V., Sr. 1965. Fire ecology: grasslands and man. Pages 169–220in Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Tall Timbers Fire Ecology Conference. Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, Florida.
Kroeber, A. L. 1925. Handbook of the Indians of California. Bureau of American Ethnology of the Smithsonian Institution, Bulletin 78, Government Printing office, Washington D.C.
-. 1951. A Mohave epic. University of California Archaeological Records,11(1).
LaPena, F. R. 1978. Wintu. Pages 324–340in R. F. Heizer, ed., Handbook of North American Indians vol. 8. Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
Lathrop, E. andB. Martin. 1982. Fire ecology of deergrass(Muhlenbergia rigens) in Cuyamaca Rancho State Park, California. Crossosoma 8(5): 1–4, 9–10.
Latta, F. F. 1942. Ethnographic papers. Yosemite Research Center. Yosemite National Park.
—. 1977. Handbook of the Yokuts Indians. Bear State Books, Santa Cruz.
Lee, M. 1989. Indian of the oaks. San Diego Museum of Man, San Diego.
Lewis, H. T. 1993. Patterns of Indian burning in California: ecology and ethnohistory. Pages 55–116in T. C. Blackburn and K. Anderson, eds., Before the wilderness environmental management by Native Californians. Ballena Press, Menlo Park.
Lewis, H. T. 1989. Ecological and technological knowledge of fire: Aborigines versus park rangers in northern Australia. American Anthropologist 91: 940–961.
Martinez, D. 1992. Native American forestry practices. The status and future of pesticide use in California. California Forest Pest Council Proceedings of the 41st Annual Meeting. California Forest Pest Council, Redding.
Mason, J. A. 1912. The ethnology of the Salinan Indians. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 10(4):97–240.
McPherson, G. R. 1995. The role of fire in the desert grasslands. Pages 130–151in M. P. McClaran and T. R. Van Devender, eds., The desert grassland. University of Arizona Press, Tucson.
Menke, J. W. 1992. Grazing and fire management for native perennial grass restoration in California grasslands. Fremontia 20(2):22–25.
Merrill, R. E. 1923. Plants used in basketry by the California Indians. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 20:215–242.
Munz, P. A. andD. D. Keck. 1973. A California Flora and Supplement. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Noss, R. F.,E. T. LaRoe, andJ. M. Scott. 1995. Endangered ecosystems of the United States: a preliminary assessment of loss and degradation. Biological Report 28. National Biological Service. U.S. Department of Interior.
Patencio, F. 1971. Desert hours with Chief Patencio. Palm Springs Desert Museum, Palm Springs.
Payton, I. J. andA. F. Mark. 1979. Long-term effects of burning on growth, flowering, and carbohydrate reserves in narrow-leaved snow tussock(Chionochloa rígida). New Zealand Journal of Botany 17:43–54.
Percival, O. M. 1897. The lost art of Indian basketry. Demorest’s Family Magazine 33(404)185–191.
Powers, S. 1976. Tribes of California. University of California Press, Berkeley.
Sampson, A. W.,A. Chase, andD. W. Hedrick. 1951. California grasslands and range forage grasses. California Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 724.
Sauer, C. O. 1975. Man’s dominance by use of fire. Pages 1–13in R. H. Kesel, ed., Geoscience and man Vol. 10. Proceedings of Grassland Ecology Symposium, Baton Rouge.
Shipek, F. 1989. An example of intensive plant husbandry: the Kumeyaay of southern California. Pages 159–170in D. R. Harris and G. Hillman, eds., Foraging and farming: The evolution of plant exploitation. Unwin-Hyman Publishers, London.
—. 1993. Kumeyaay plant husbandry: fire, water, and erosion control systems. Pages 379–388in T. C. Blackburn and K. Anderson, eds., Before the wilderness environmental management by Native Californians. Ballena Press, Menlo Park.
Smith, C. R. 1978. Tubatulabal. Pages 437–445in eds., Handbook of North American Indians. Volume 8. Smithsonian Institution. Washington D.C.
Spurr, S. H. andB. V. Barnes. 1980. Forest ecology. Third Edition. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Timbrook, J. 1990. Ethnobotany of Chumash Indians, California, based on collections by John P. Harrington. Economic Botany 44:236–253.
Timbrook, J.,J. R. Johnson, andD. D. Earle. 1993. Vegetation burning by the Chumash. Pages 117–149in T. C. Blackburn and K. Anderson (eds.), Before the wilderness environmental management by native Californians. Ballena Press, Menlo Park.
Usher, P. J. 1987. Indigenous management systems and the conservation of wildlife in the Canadian north. Alternatives 14(l):3–9.
Voegelin, E. W. 1938. Tubatulabal ethnography. Anthropological Records 2(1): 1–84.
Vogl, R. J. 1974. Effects of fire on grasslands. Pages 139–182in T. T. Kozlowski and E. Ahlgren, eds., Fire and ecosystems. Academic Press, New York.
Watt, A. S. 1940. Contributions to the ecology of bracken(Pteridium aquilinum). I. the rhizome. New Phytologist. 39:401–422.
Wright, H. A. andA. W. Bailey. 1980. Fire ecology and prescribed burning in the Great Plains: a research review. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service General Technical Report INT-77.
Zigmond, M. L. 1978. Kawaiisu basketry. Journal of California Anthropology 5:199–215. Malki Museum, Morongo Indian Reservation, Banning.
—. 1981. Kawaiisu ethnobotany. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Anderson, M.K. The ethnobotany of deergrass,Muhlenbergia rigens (Poaceae): Its uses and fire management by California Indian tribes. Econ Bot 50, 409–422 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02866523
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02866523