Amaranthus fimbriatus   ( ) ( ) Burseraceae The plant has relatively flexible herbage ant thin, delicate leaves; the bracts are not prickly. These characters are indicated by its Seri name ( ziim caitic "soft ziim"). This common hot-weather ephemeral occurs on the islands and throughout the mainland region. While generally reaches maximum development along washes and arroyos, it may be seasonally common on open desert and rocky slopes. The seeds are dark brown or black, lens-shaped, and less than 1.0 mm in diameter. There are three other kinds of ziim : A. watsonii, Chenopodium, and Salsola.   Food: the seeds were prepared in the same manner as for A. watsonii . Since A. fimbriatus is not as abundant as A. watsonii , we assume that it was of less importance. The seeds were stored in pottery ollas. The leafy green shoots, when tender and young, were prepared as greens. The "leaves" (shoots or herbage) were cooked in water, and then the water squeezed out by h...

    Sesuvium verrucosum ( sea purslane) ( ) Aizoaceae The Seri distinguished Sesuvium by its narrow leaves and Abronia maritima by its rounder (broader) leaves. They have similar life forms and occupy similar niches, and both were considered to be "soft" plants. This trailing perennial herb is glabrous, and has succulent leaves and stems. It forms low, spreading mats along the margins of mangroves and on upper beaches. Food preparation:   A sea turtle carapace or basket was lined with Sesuvium or some other "soft" plants to provide a bed on which to place meat to keep it clean. "People of the Desert and Sea, Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians. Richard Stephen Felger and Mary Beck Moser."

  Guaiacum coulteri  ( ) (guayacán) Zygophyllaceae Face paint materials: for blue color the resin was used. "People of the Desert and Sea, Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians. Richard Stephen Felger and Mary Beck Moser".

    Bursera hindsiana  ( ) ( ) Burseraceae The Hant Caai (land maker) caused a tree to grow. This first tree was a red elephant tree ( Bursera hindsiana ).  The common elephant tree was strongly involved in the vision quest and religious concepts and might be considered as the Seri "holy bush".  Icoocmolca  "what (blame) is put on (plural)"fetishes carved from the wood of the red elephant tree ( Burserda hindsiana ) served as messengers to the spiritual world. Also involved in the quest for spiritual power were desert lavender ( Condea emoryi ).   “People of the Desert and Sea, Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians. Richard Stephen Felger and Mary Beck Moser”

     Fouquieria columnaris  (boojum trees) ( ) Fouquieriaceae The firs man and woman had children and eventually a number of giants inhabited the land. The land was flat, without mountains or even sand dunes, so it was natural that floods should occur. Floods were accompanied by fire, smoke, and earthquakes. After one such disaster, Hant Caai (land maker) saw that because the land was flat, the people had little chance to escape the destruction. So he sang a song, causing mountains, hills, and dunes to form. These were to provide protection for the people during floods. In one such flood a group of giants from the south fled northward to the mountains south of Puerto Libertad. There the flood overtook them and changed them into boojum trees, which still occur there.  “People of the Desert and Sea, Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians. Richard Stephen Felger and Mary Beck Moser”

  Xanthium spinosum  ( ) ( ) Asteraceae Stems erect or ascending, branching, 2-10 dm. tall, puberulent; leaves lanceolate, 4-8 cm. long, with a pair of long, narrow lobes on lower half of blade, sometimes with a few small lobes above middle, green above, densely white-pubescent on lower surface, shortly petioled, each with a pair of long, yellow, 3- or 4-parted, stipular spines at base; fruiting bur weakly spiny, tomentose, about 1 cm. long, the beaks inconspicuous. Abundant in waste fields, sometimes along dikes and edges of marshy areas; introduced European weed occasional throughout the United States.  "A Flora of the Marshes of California. Herbert L. Mason".