Temalpakh: Cahuilla Indian Knowledge and Usage of Plants

Temalpakh [Cahuilla for From the Earth ] represents more than ten years of meticulous field work and collaboration by the authors on knowledge and usage of plants among Cahuilla Indians. The work extends our understanding of Cahuilla use of plants far beyond the scope encompassed by David Prescott Barrows in his pioneer monograph Ethnobotany of the Cahuilla Indians of Southern California, published in 1900. The studies of Bean and Sauvel reveal the high degree of sophisticated knowledge possessed by the Cahuilla concerning plant life, suggest the acuteness of their ecological awareness, and have implications of considerable significance for southern California Indian research as a whole. This new ethnobotany for the Cahuilla covers more than 250 plants and the often fascinating ways in which they were utilized. Additional supplementary material examines the controversial issue of aboriginal agriculture in southern California. Indian people, laymen, and scholars may all profit from and enjoy reading a book that is certain to become a classic in its field. This is still the authoritative work on ethnobotany in Southern California.