Interesting that most of our useful pasture grasses (tall fescue, bermuda, bahia, Kentucky bluegrass, bent grass, orchard grass) are on their list of invasive plants that they want to eradicate. If we had to limit our plant cultivation to native species, we'd have a VERY limited diet.
The traditional and most important crops (corn, beans, squash) cultivated by native Americans living in North America were imported from central America. The main crops native to North America that are currently widely cultivated worldwide are sunflowers (native to the great plains), blueberries (native mostly east of the Mississippi), cranberries (new england), and pecan (lower Mississippi). Native crops not widely cultivated today include black walnut, butternut, acorns, chestnut/chinkapin, honeylocust, groundnuts, brambles, persimmons, and plums. Here in upstate SC, if I could only grow native crops, I would be limited to persimmons, blackberries, blueberries, wild plums, hickory nuts, acorns, and poke salad.
Location: Chihuahua Desert
posted 7 years ago
you forgot amaranth (as important as corn), lambsquarters, american groundnut, mesquite, prickly pear, devil's claw, manzanita, wild grapes, cattails, and hundreds of others native to North America.
but, I support harvesting the invasives, too, like feral hog, canadian geese, asian carp, kudzu, etc. Lots of invasives are good eating.
Amaranth, another crop imported from central or south America
Lambsquarters (Chenopodium album), originally native to Europe
Groundnut, already mentioned above
Mesquite and manzanita, not native to the eastern US
Devil's claw (Probocidea), not native in South Carolina
Prickly pear, native to SC, but very uncommon, being restricted to the few very dryest, sunny locations where they won't be shaded out by taller vegetation.
Cattails, native to upstate SC, but didn't become common here until the lakes resulting from the construction of dams gave them plenty of habitat to colonize. Before this, the shady forested banks of the wild rivers and creeks didn't provide much potential habitat for them.
Wild grapes, lots of muscadine around here
I wouldn't consider Canadian geese to be an invasive. They are native to North America, but have spread their range recently beyond their usual flyways by taking advantage of the construction of dammed lakes and pastured/lawned areas to move into previously forested, lake-less regions.
Location: Chihuahua Desert
posted 7 years ago
Amaranth from south america? source, please. I was under the assumption it was native to Mexico, as is corn, which is North America.
I do believe there are Mesquites native to the Eastern US. They are not the same species as in the west.
I didn't see where you mentioned American Groundnut (Apios Americana). That is a useful plant.
Canadian Geese might not be invasive in your area, but they are considered an invasive species in many parts of the US. Same with deer.
Are you just looking for natives in your immediate area? If so, please define "native", how long does it need to be established in your area to be considered native? If you go back far enough, nothing is native.
My point was that there are literally hundreds of native species to north america (maybe not your specific area) that are useful.
I'm sure you have a number of invasive/non natives that are in your area growing wild. Like dandelions or lambsquarters or cattails.
Source 'Plants for Man' by Richard W. Schery (an excellent read if you are interested in the origins and uses of cultivated plants), also the on-line source Waynes' Word (http://waynesword.palomar.edu/ecoph31.htm). According to these, Amaranthus caudatus and A. hybridus were native to the Andes (although A. hybridus is more widespread). A. leucocarpus is native to Mexico. A. cruentus, which Wayne calls an Arizona species, Schery says originally came from Asia.
In the US, the genus Prosopis (mesquite) only ranges as far east as southern Kansas and eastern Texas.
I'm growing groundnuts here and am hoping that the recently introduced kudzu bug doesn't find it tasty, as it does soybeans, yard long beans, and pole beans.
Whitetail and mule deer are both native within their respective ranges, the only reason some people are saying that they are invasive is because their numbers are booming in the artificial absence of predators (wolf, puma, human), although the automobile has become a significant deer predator in many suburban areas.
By "native" I mean a plant that arrived by its natural animal, wind, or water distributors in prehistoric times, not via a deliberate or accidental human introduction. But there are some who define "native" by saying it means anything that was here before the start of the European invasion of the Americas, or some who say, just because it has been here all of their lives (like dandelions or plantains), it is "native".
Most of the traditional native American domesticated crops in the region covered by the US were domesticated elsewhere (mostly from tropical America) and arrived via trade routes in prehistoric times. As these better crops were introduced, many of the less tasty, tedious to process native edibles dropped out of use, became very minor food inputs, or were relegated to famine food. Example, acorns are a very abundant, easy to collect, edible crop, but their high tannin content makes them tedious to process. So when something better was introduced (say, pecans), pecans were planted and the acorns stopped being collected.
So as I stated above, if we had to limit our plant cultivation to only (by my definition of) native species, we'd have a VERY limited diet, as almost all of our crops are introduced species (with a few that are so well adapted to their new homes that they have become invasive). So those who want to close the door to any introduction of new plant species are also closing the door to the introduction of any potential new crops (although by now many of the world's potential crops have already been introduced).
Location: Verde Valley, AZ.
posted 7 years ago
another invasives site, from California this time, with replacement options, and removal recommendations. go up for fire and removal instructions.
I like the ground cover selections anyway, had good luck with that iceplant in Phx.