Arboretum News.

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Winter 1999

M FOUNDATION

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by Jim Bauml
or most of the 1.5 million years
that we humans have occupied
our blue planet, we have lived in a
closer, let’s say intimate, associa-
tion with our natural environment. Except
for all but our most recent modern era,
and then only in the most “developed”
parts ; the word, our very survival from
as required a very different
set of skills Gacluding a detailed knowl- ©
edge of plants, animals, water locations, —__
and other natural resources.
Over vast stretches of time, our ©
ancestors discovered by trial and error’
which parts of different plants were:
edible, or edible when processed, and
which were poisonous, or beneficial when
used j in TMhogeration. They learned when —

maintain'strong ec
local plants.
are gleaned tk

_ ity. This is the art and science of

botanist John W. Harshberger for the
“study of plants used by. “primitive

of interrelationships between plants
~ | and people, and others stress the

Z ‘interactions and their biological

Ethnobotany

clothing, shelter, and more. Many people
are currently involved in recording this
valuable body of knowledge, both for the
benefit of those who have preserved the
information within their cultures as
well as for the benefit all of human-

_ ethnobotany.
The term ethnobotany was first
uséd i in 1896 by the American

and aboriginal” people. The science
has moved through various phases

‘since those early years. Other, more
recent definitions focus on the range

~ coevolutionary nature of people/plant

dases. Another definition describes
ethnobotany as simply “the botany of
aculture other than ours.”
Ethnobotany is the study of plants
F useful to people. Or, in another sense, it is
the ongoing relationship: between people
and plants. It may be ‘considered a hybrid
between 1 anthiropology and botany, but
jotanica studies cn also incorporate

plants including how they organize and

name their natural environment.
Ethnobotany has become almost a

household word through such movies as

The Vert 56 Yeirs of Plants and People - Calipornia Arboretum Pioation (998-0008

“Medicine Man” and “The Serpent and the
Rainbow” and books such as the imagina-

_ tive series by Carlos Castaneda starting
| with The Teachings of Don Juan, Wade

}
|
}
|
}
|

Davis ( The Serpent and the Rainbow and
One River), and Mike Plotkin (Tales of a
Shaman’s Apprentice). Other, more

Photo: Frank McDonough —_

Seed pod of T, cacao, source of chocolate.

academic books on ethnobotany have been
published recently, with its acceptance as
an established branch of study.

On the broadest scale, all plants are
useful and essential, as they capture the
sun’s energy through photosynthesis and
convert it into carbon-based molecules
that are the building blocks of life. But on
a more specific level, ethnobotany is
concerned with the myriad of plants
which are used directly or indirectly to
serve human needs. Of these, probably
the one of greatest interest to most people
is medical applications, and this is,

Continued on page two

}
|
et
/

From the CEO

May you enjoy this season of
thankfulness, merriment and new
beginnings.

Winter in this part of the country is
new to me. Instead of winter clothing,
major home heating, and snow tires, I am
looking forward to a cool, dry winter with
acacias, Cassias, daffodils, and magnolias
showing their glorious blooms. Hallelujah!

Changes continue to abound at The
Arboretum:

STAFF: Permanent additions include
Ross Varone (the new voice of The
Arboretum), Gracie Guillen (tour guides,
cashiers, and a host of other responsibili-
ties), Jennifer Williams (my assistant) and
Julia Garibay (film shoots and special
events assistant). A hearty welcome to
these highly qualified people who have
sought out work at the Arboretum and are
helping to take it to the next level. Nadia

Balaz is now our Special Events Coordi- |

nator in the new Special Events Division,
which combines events and location
work

MARKETING: | am proud to an-
nounce that we have hired the marketing
group CMS. Susan Dawson and Minnie
Scott, our contacts, will focus on
marketing, advertising and development.
Watch for image changes and coordina-
tion of all Arboretum outreach activities.

os

|
a

res »
ARS OR ET:OUM NEWS <7 PACE

| i

PLANTINGS:
The staff at the
Donald M.
Kendall Sculp-
ture Gardens at
PepsiCo’s World
Headquarters
have arranged the transfer to

Arcadia of over 5,000 rhizomes of
Japanese iris, [ris ensata. This collection
includes over 40 varieties of the beautiful
spring-flowering plant. We planted the
majority of them in our Bog Garden, just
west of the Bauer Pool. If all goes well,
we should have a great display of bloom

during May and June and some equally
great events to celebrate it. Some iris will
be available at the Baldwin Bonanza

RETREAT: The CAF Board of Trustees
is developing plans to sponsor a work-
shop.on the future direction of the
Arboretum. We will focus upon develop-
ing a prioritized wish list for a “master
plan.” This implies a lot of planning and
development, which, of course, means
increasing our membership, grant writing
and other fund raising activities to pay

. for new programs, buildings and services

to the community at large. Please
consider this as the “new” beginning of
something of which you all will be proud.
So when solicitations are made, please
continue to be enthusiastic support-

j ers of our future.

Peter C. Atkins

rw o

Photo: Clyde Reavis

Ethnobotany

Continued from page one

indeed, a large and important component
of ethnobotanical studies. Just one such
example was the rediscovery of quinine,
from the Cinchona tree, by missionaries
in Peru from Indians who knew its
properties. It is a potent anti-fever
compound still used around the world to
combat malaria. The continuing rise in
interest in medicinal herbs in the Western
cultures is a strong indication of the
increased popular consciousness of the
long heritage of medicinal plant use. In
fact, the first European botanical gardens
sprang up around medical schools where
medical herbs were cultivated for use of
faculty and students. These were the so-
called “physic gardens.”

There is an abundance of plants at
the Arboretum with stories that deserve to
be told. A visit to the Tropical Green-
house provides several examples. Just
inside on the left is the famous allspice
(Pimenta dioica) from Tropical America
whose fruits are the allspice berries. The
“jerked” foods of Jamaica, where the tree
grows wild, feature the flavor of the
berries. The broken leaves also have the
same enticing aroma, said to be reminis-
cent of a mixture of nutmeg, cloves and
cinnamon. Just across the path is a grove
of the colorful Hawaiian ti plant,
Cordyline terminalis, native to Tropical
Asia and Oceania. The cooked roots are
very sweet and are eaten, used to sweeten
other foods, or fermented in water and
distilled into a potent beverage. The
leaves have been eaten as a potherb and
used to wrap other foods before baking
them. That the plant itself is also valued
as an ornamental in tropical regions is
shown by the many color forms in
existence. In the small pond at the
entrance is an enormous clump of black-
stemmed taro (Colocasia esculenta). In
Hawaii, taro tubers are processed into the
semi-fermented food poi or sliced and fried

Continued on page six

Ce

- oe ee

To continue in the South American
section:

. On the right, across from the
Escallonia, is a deciduous shrub native to
tropical South America called
Caesalpinia pulcherrima, Dwarf
poinciana, Bird of paradise bush, or
Peacock flower This shrub produces its
red-orange blooms while the weather
stays warm. A short distance up the road
on the left is a bush that produces a
round, bottlebrush-like, flower in reddish
pink; this is Calliandra haematocephala,
Pink powder puff, native to Bolivia.
Also on the left, before the intersection,
is Pereskia sacharosa, Uncactuslike
cactus, which is native from Paraguay to
Argentina, This leafy, deciduous plant
more than earns the title “cactus;” all one
need do is look between the leaves and
notice the 1-2 inch spines it produces.
Pereskia sends forth stunning pink
flowers throughout the year.

Next to the Pereskia, on the corner,
is Thevetia peruviana, Yellow oleander,
which is a South American relative of
common oleander (Nerium) and the
tropical Plumeria. All parts of Thevetia
are poisonous, which earns this plant one
of its common names: Be still tree. The
oddly shaped triangular seed of the
yellow oleander is carried as a talisman
or charm in the Caribbean and is the
reason this plant bears yet another
common name, Lucky nut. Thevetia
produces trumpet-shaped yellow flowers
all year long.

| Along
Aorebirn Paths

Along Arboretum Paths will take you to a different
part of the Garden each issue.

Ahead, on the right, is a medium
sized tree with a bulbous trunk, avocado-
like seed pods, and a beautiful ivory
colored flower; this is Chorisia insignis,
White floss silk tree. You might also
notice some vicious looking thorns
adorning this tree’s trunk and branches, a
characteristic shared with the pink
flowering Chorisia speciosa, Pink floss
silk tree, seen towering on both sides of
the road. The Chorisia produce a seed
pod that, when ripe, cracks open to
expose a white, cottony substance
which bears the seeds (the floss can
often be seen strewn about the base of
the tree). This floss is used in South
America as a stuffing for pillows,
mattresses and toys. The inner bark of
C. insignis is used to make cordage,
and the tree itself is hollowed out to
make dugout
canoes.
Neither
Chorisia
will regrow
individual
thorns if

they are lost or removed. Nearer the
road, on the right, is a smaller, delicate
tree adorned in early spring with funnel-
shaped lavender blooms, Tabebuia
impetiginosa, Pink trumpet tree.
Somewhat inset, to the right of the tram
road, is a large tree that has pronounced
scars from large limbs it has lost; this is
Erythrina falcata, Seibo. E. falcata
produces graceful clusters of bright red
blooms from late winter to spring. This
particular tree is one of the largest of its
species in California. Further up the
knoll on the left can be seen a variety of
Erythrina species, many of which
possess oddly shaped blooms in various
shades of crimson.

by Nelson Holmes

AUSTRALIAN
SECTION

ARBORETUM NEWS / PAGE THREE

The Queen Anne Cottage

| by Sandy Snider
The study of history is a challenge.
Quite often, the more we poke and prod,
the less likely it is that absolute truths will
| remain absolute. So it is with the story of
| the Queen Anne Cottage, the fanciful guest
' house of Elias Jackson “Lucky” Baldwin.
| For years it was accepted as truth and
, | unhesitatingly offered as history that the
| | red and white Baldwin cottage was
| | designed in 1881 as a home for Lucky’s
| third wife, the lovely Jennie Dexter, whose
stained glass portrait graces the Cottage’s
| front door. Jennie died of tuberculosis in
| 1881 at age 22, and, as the story goes, in
| mourning for the loss of his young wife, E.
| J. ordered the cottage which was to have
been their home instead converted into a
| guest house and Jennie Dexter memorial.
| The State Landmark plaque in front of the
Cottage cites the 1881 date.
| While a touching story and even
plausible history, this long-accepted
version of the Queen Anne Cottage
background is probably not true. By the
time the Cottage was designated for
inclusion on the National Register of
Historic Places in 1985, new evidence
indicated that the actual building date was
1885-86 and that the intended mistress of
the house was to have been Baldwin’s
| fourth wife, Lillie Bennett. E. J. and the
sixteen-year- old Lillie were married in the
spring of 1884, and the Cottage, designed
by Lillie’s father Albert A. Bennett, was
quite likely intended as a honeymoon
cottage for the newlyweds. Period

newspaper articles indicate the building

date. “The new cottage being built [italics
added] for Mr. Baldwin is situated on a

| knoll next to a large lake,” commented

| Pacific Rural Press in the spring of 1885.
“Baldwin’s Belvedere,” as the Los Angeles

| Times (May 8, 1886) referred to the

: Cottage, would be “ready for occupancy”

|_ in the summer of 1886. “On the bank of

| the lake,” noted the story in the Times,

“has been erected a beautiful cottage of

four large rooms and bath. From the main |
drive a handsome shaded arbor leads up to |
the marble steps which rise to a marbled
floored verandah. Furniture and bric-a-

brac have been brought from the

proprietor’s rooms at the Baldwin Hotel in
San Francisco. Marble mantels of Parian
whiteness with deep-set grates — in which
it is intended to burn gas, made on the
premises from naphtha — lend an air of

solid comfort. . . . It is; however, in the

windows that the aesthetic hand of the
artist found scope. . . . One of these
contains a fine portrait of Byron, another
of Shakespeare, a third a bathing scene. . . .
Mr. Baldwin has also chosen to perpetuate
a memory of the former Mrs. Baldwin, nee
Dexter, not only by having almost a life
size portrait of the lady, as she appeared in
the halcyon days of maidenhood, hung in
the bedroom, but in having a copy made
on the glass that forms one of the doors. . . .

Continued on page six

5 Cottage Open House

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Anne Coens a

, December He

. and 12, from 1:00 to 4:00 in the Aeron.

: Volunteer Bob Travis and his Santa Anita <

_ Model A Club will exhibit their vintage

— on nthe Cottage grounds = . e d

ARBORETUM- NEWS / PAGE FOUR

Welcome
New Members

In addition to those already acknowledged for
joining the California Arboretum Foundation in
fiscal year 1998/99, we welcome the following to

The Arboretum Family.

Mike & Lori Macchia

Mrs. Cyndy Mako
& Mrs. Eugene Malone
Ms. Lola Malone
& Miss Mindy Gorge
Ms: Jeanette M: S

& Mrs. Roy Marquedant
- Paul Marrero

FEA Norman Sturgeon Marshall

Martin
bey Masten 223.2.
& Anna-Masters

Ms. Shirley McLean
Edward Hertera
Ms. Barbara MeVe on

& Mrs. Judy seed O’ Rourke
Allen & Joyce Oblo

Carey & & rs Come

ae geeks Owre

Isabel Pahbakian & P.M. Gealy

Ms. Ellen

Mrs. heat Palanza

Mr. & 2 John Palmer
Pancoo

E.
Mrs. a
Mrs. Ofelia bk. Steere

Harvey Pearson & D. Wensing

Ms. Anne Pearson

Edward Pedroza

Mr. & Mrs. Robert S. Perkins
Petersen

Mrs. Madeline Polansky
& Ms. Judith Polansky
Mrs. Chris Powers

Mr. & Mrs. Ray Ross
Ms. Judy Rossi
Mr. & Mrs.

Ms. Barbara Rowe
Joseph & Susan Rucolo

Freak & Lise Russo
Mr. Bruce Ryan & Mrs. Loren Tripp
Mr. & Mrs. Stephen Sagan

WahPui Sam
Eleanor G. Sanchez

Mr. & Mis. Jack Schwab

Mr. & Mrs. Cedric A. Scott

Rex Lee Searcey

Norman & Pat Seastedt

Mr. & Mrs. Robert Seino

Mr. & Mrs. David F, Shaver, Sr.
Eileen Shaw & John Rodriguez
Mr. Dean Shelly

Mrs. Sharon Sherman
Catherine & William Shipman

me A. Smith
& Mrs. Frank Snyder
= & Mrs. R. Solis
Anne Sommer & David Rabinowitz
Mr. & Mrs. Jim Southern
Val Spain & Julio Cervantes
Mr. Dan & Mrs. Sharm Spangler

Ms. Edwina Tinea
& Mr. Robert Miller

E. Trigg

Mr. & Mrs. Wallace Tripp

Tuan N. Truong

Mr. & Mrs. David Trygstad

Yen Tseng

Mr. & Mrs. Francis Turney

Mr. & Mrs. Arthur sae

Angel & Joyce Unami

Mr. & Mrs. Manuel A. Vibbiatiel
an Hie

im Weiler
Kevin & sides Wentz & Family
Ms. W. Wi
Mr. & ee tobe A. Westerholm
Mr. & Mrs. James P. Whalen
Mr. & Mrs. Harry E.
Mr. & Mrs. L: Richard Wicklond
Sue Wilcox & Edna M. Wilcox

Mr. & Mrs. Randolph G. Wiloon
Mr. John Wojcik & Ms, Ha Le
Sean & Sarah Wong
Mr. & Mrs. Yuki Yamaguchi

ARBORETUM NEWS / PAGE FIVE

Queen Anne Cottage

Continued from page six

The artisan in charge of the fitting up
says he has performed similar service in
Bonanza Flood’s house at Menlo Park,
where the windows were considered fine,
but do not compare with Baldwin’s,
though made in Europe, while the latter
are of San Francisco manufacture.”

Why was Jennie Dexter perpetuated
in glass and why did her portraits adorn a
house intended for another? It is known
that E. J. and Lillie separated sometime
in 1885 and, though never divorced, they
nevertheless maintained separate
residences thereafter. The Cottage was
most likely, then, designed as a honey-
moon cottage for Lillie Bennett but, upon
deterioration of his marriage, Lucky
Baldwin simply designated the Cottage a
guest house and filled it with memories
of his great love, Jennie Dexter. Wyatt
Earp, a personal friend, and Sarah
Bernhardt, the famous actress who
performed in the Baldwin Theater in San
Francisco, were among remembered
guests over the years.

With the death of Lucky Baldwin in
1909, his daughter Anita (born in 1876
to Jennie Dexter) closed the house and
disposed of all furnishings. Fortunately,
Anita removed and stored in the Coach
Barn such detachable components as the
stained glass windows, black walnut
doors, marble fireplace mantels, the
hearth tiles, and the encaustic tile entry
floor. All of these items, plus original
bathroom fixtures and the exterior
marble walkway were returned to the
Cottage during restoration in 1951-53.
Refurnishing was coordinated by
Maurice Block, retired curator at The
Huntington Library and Art Gallery,
using appropriate period pieces, while
from the Baldwin family came original
paintings, including the life sized oil
portrait of Jennie Dexter that had
captured the attention of the Los Angeles
Times reporter in 1886.

Ethnobotany

Continued from page two

~ into taro chips. Around the world taro is a

major crop plant, especially in the tropics,
grown for its edible tubers, leaves, stems,
and sprouts. The Greenhouse also contains
a large chocolate tree (yes, chocolate DOES
grow on trees), Theobroma cacao, native to
Tropical America. The name Theobroma
appropriately translates to “food of the

Photo: Frank McDonough

Flowers of the cacao tree form directly
on trunks and branches.

gods.” The orange, football-shaped fruits
contain the seeds that are processed into the
sweet, dark, universally prized ambrosia.
And in the same corner climbing on a
support is the vanilla vine (Vanilla
planifolia), a true orchid, whose hand-
pollinated flowers mature into a pod which
is fermented to yield the distinctive flavor
found in ice cream, soft drinks, syrups and
confections we enjoy.

The stories behind the useful plants
at the Arboretum are a means of connect-
ing visitors with these specimens in the
collections. With this in mind, a great
deal of effort went into the development
of large-format engraved signs that were
set out in the Tropical Forest exhibit.
These signs are both entertaining and
educational and make the featured plants
assume a special value. In the same way,
many of the new plantings in the reno-
vated Herb Garden, now being planted,
will be interpreted with special signage.

My own ethnobotanical field work
was conducted among the Huichol
Indians of Mexico. One goal of this work

a

was to serve the Huichol themselves by
preserving an important part of their
cultural heritage for future generations.
My second goal was to learn about plants
that might have potential uses as new
foods, medicine, forage, and other
applications. Thirdly, the study contrib-
uted to the knowledge of the vegetation of
the region, in this case a largely undocu-
mented floristic zone in western Mexico.
Herbarium collections from that study
included new species,
range extensions, and
other collections that
have been incorpo-
rated into the regional
study Flora Novo-
Galiciana. This work
continues today with
a project to document
dye plants and their
preparation, almost a
lost art in the culture, and a project to

document the plants known and used by |_|

these Indians on the annual pilgrimage
from their mountain homelands to the
central desert of Mexico.

Today, 100 years since the term
“ethnobotany” was coined, we respect-
fully refer to “primitive” cultures as
“preliterate”, and helpful native associates
are “consultants”, not “informants” as in
the past. And the Convention on Biologi-
cal Diversity provides for equitable
sharing of financial benefits accruing
from plants discovered and removed from
a certain geographic or cultural context.
Ethnobotany continues to gain in
importance, with its practitioners
documenting botanical knowledge that is
being lost at an alarming rate. The
Arboretum is helping our visitors to
appreciate the ethnobotanical heritage of
the cultures whose plants we display. In
the future, we will continue to feature
useful plants with classes, signage, and
special programs, communicating the
important role that plants have had and
still have in each of our lives.

PARE OR ETUM NEWS SPACES TX

Turn Your Membership
Benefits into Blossoms
in Your Garden!

JUST IN TIME FOR WINTER

PLANTING ... all members of the

Foundation receive a 10% discount at
the following nurseries:

ALTADENA NURSERY
1968 N. Lake Ave., Altadena

BURKARD NURSERIES, INC.
390 N. Orange Grove Blvd., Pasadena
DESERT TO JUNGLE NURSERY
3211 W. Beverly Blvd, Montebello

FOUR SEASONS ORCHID CO.

823 S. San Gabriel Blvd., San Gabriel

GARDEN VIEW NURSERY

12900 Lower Azusa Rd.. Irwindale

LAS TUNAS NURSERY

1155 E. Las Tunas Dr., San Gabriel

PLANT SYSTEM

2552 Hyperion Ave.. Silver Lake

PRESENT PERFECT
140 S. Kinneloa Ave..

Pasadena

ROGERS GARDENS

2301 San Joaquin Hills Rd..

Corona del Mar

SAN GABRIEL NURSERY

632 S. San Gabriel Blvd. San Gabriel
SMITH & HAWKEN

519 S. Lake Ave., Pasadena

SOUTH PASADENA
GARDEN CENTER

1507 El Centro. South Pasadena
STEWART ORCHIDS
3838 Sepulveda Blvd.,
3376 Foothill Rd.,

Culver City

Carpinteria *

PLAN AHEAD -

Baldwin Bonanza XXX
Party & Plant Sale
Friday, May 5 —
Sunday, May 7, 2000

We need small garden carts and wagons
for this major fund raiser for The
Arboretum. If you are able to assist with
a donation, please leave a message for
Sylvia Guerrero at (626) 821-3222.

NAVE THE

DATES

Out of Our Past

@® THIRTY YEARS AGO there was a
fire in the historical area. To quote a
photo caption in Lasca (Los Angeles
State and County Arboretum) Leaves,
May 1973, “On December 26, 1969, a
fire swept by 70-mile-per-hour winds cut
through the center of the Arboretum
producing scenes like these in the
vicinity of the Queen Anne Cottage
which, fortunately, escaped with only
blistered paint. The trunks of
Washingtonia robusta palms.in the area

still show scars from the fire.”

2® DID YOU KNOW that the Arbore-
tum once had its own TV program?
“Green Leaves,” a series of 13 half-hour
programs, appeared on KNBC at 11:30

on Sunday mornings in 1968-69.

2@ AT ABOUT THE SAME TIME, a
national search was on for Camptotheca
acuminata, an uncommon tree from China.
The Arboretum had a specimen donated by
Arcadian Willard Hagen, as well as a
second tree propagated from the first. The

original tree was sacrificed to medical
science so that an extract, camptothecin,
could be evaluated as a cancer treatment. *

AR BORE TU. M

Plant Quiz

_ Agriculture promoted a fiber crop. If

What i is it?

_ fields. The words for

~ they?

1. Marshmallows once were made
with mucilage from the roots of what
plant?

2. In the 1920s, the U.S. Dept. of
you grow it now, you "re in trouble. |

be Poinsettia’ is neacd for -

4A new amusement has pee
paths cut in grain

the paths and the
grain sound the
same. What are

5. Pineapples
grow in Hawaii
but where do
they come

[izeag “¢ (wio9)

ozrew pur OZR + OOS 0} Jopessequie

8 “sy — Uria'e setae
duapZ Moypeut ys]

NEWS +/+ PAGE

af VEN

or _

a af

For
holidays AS

and other days
make the Garden Shop
your first, not last, stop

td dichmotivo onttc

Open from 9:30 to 4:30, 7 days a week ,
‘THE ARBORETUM GARDEN SHOP
; (626) 447-8751

Remember, a gift from the Arboretum is a gift fe the Arboretum

e

ETUM"

California Arboretum Foundation

A non-profit corporation benefiting

THE ARBORETUM of Los Angeles County

301 North Baldwin Avenue * Arcadia, CA 91007-2697

Hours: The Arboretum is open 9:00 am to 4:30 pm
every day but December 25.

Arboretum Information: (626) 821-3222

Plant Advice: (626) 821-3239

Plant Science Library (626) 821-3213

TL GES + £T A 1 ad rE
di 7 7 | o
thea CalitAarnic Arhoaretium F, dass Swi, £9 Pad A r]
i} ( unty of Los Ang
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Peter C. Atkins

Visit the CAF Website at www.arboretum.org

No. 528

Non Profit
Organization
U.S. Postage

PAID
Arcadia, CA

®)_ Dated Material

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