Triteleiopsis palmeri

     

Triteleiopsis palmeri ( ) ( )

Fabaceae

  • The small blue flowers are borne in an umbellate arrangement on a slender stalk arising from a cluster of tiny underground bulbs. The foliage, consisting of several leaves, and flowers appear in spring. In the early 1980s some of the women and girls at El Desemboque dug it up and transplanted them to their gardens. They grew them in cans, buckets, and in the ground. Food: it was given to a young child whose mother was pregnant. Since the mother was often unable to provide sufficient milk, the child was likely to be undernourished. The tiny bulbs were said to be survival food for the companion child. The bulbs were cooked in water until they became soft mush. This mush was one of the soft foods fed to young children when they started eating solids. In addition, children enjoyed looking for the plants on dunes in springtime and eating the bulbs fresh. For this reason it was often difficult to find mature plants near El Desemboque. The children often brought handfuls of them back to the village. "People of the Desert and Sea, Ethnobotany of the Seri Indians".

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