February24_2010

Botanical Glossary - Home - References Cited

This is the life blood of the San Agustin, San Sabastian and Vista Hermosa villages. The El Rio river is tapped with a three foot wide canal higher up in the El Rio Valley and directed into cement lined holding tanks just as they have been for many generations. At different times of the day each of the 8 cubes holding tanks of water are drained into minor canals which lead to various portions of the villages so that the farmers can divert the water for their crops. It happens like clock work, every day, a different section gets their allotted water shunted down through the canal system in the villages, and slowly returns the unused portion of the water into the El Rio River.

Photos - This portion of cement lined canal is cut through soft, red dirt, while other portions has been cut right into solid rock.

Photos - Frames left and right: Hechtia Argentea (Bromeliad) on a hillside beside the canal. As with most members of the subfamily Pitcairnioideae they too are heavily armed with marginal spines and require great care when handling. Hechtias are terrestrial and grow on desert hillsides and rocky slopes alongside cactus and are truly xerophytic, with standing long periods of drought and extreme variations in temperature. The flowers of this genus are mainly insignificant and nearly always white in color. Hence they are usually grown for their glossy foliage rather than their flowers.

Center frame: This is a particularly lush vegetation area of the canal, about a kilometer east of the reservoir tanks. The tree on the left is a Quercus Spp (Mexican Oak) tree an is at the extent of its adult growth.

Photos - Leaves and bark of the Mexican Oak tree - notice the curious shape of the leaves that are typical of this southern North America variety.

There are more than 60 species of Oak in North America of which are divided into two groups: White Oak, and Red Oak. In the Pacific Northwest, the Gary Oak (Quercus Garryana) is most common, while in Mexico (around Oaxaca) the Netleaf Oak (Quercus Reticulata) and the Mexican Blue Oak (Quercus Oblongifolia) is most common.

The acorns of all Oaks are edible, some native tribes of the Pacific Northwest soaked the nuts to leach out the tannins which make the nuts less bitter when dried, roasted, or steamed. The wood has been used for generations for small digging tools, combs, fire fuel, furniture, and construction of dwellings. The Saanich tribe on Vancouver Island were said to have used a decoction of Oak bark in a recipe for a medicine used for tuberculosis and other ailments.

Of the 38 species of oaks in the SE, 17 are white oaks and 21 red oaks. Oaks are extremely abundant in the SE and of immense value economically and environmentally. Acorns are so important as food for wildlife that success or failure of an annual crop can be a major factor in winter survival. Some of the mammals that commonly include acorns in their diet are deer, hogs, bears, rats, squirrels, and raccoons; among birds are bluejays, woodpeckers, ducks, and wild turkeys. Foliage and twigs may be poisonous when eaten in considerable quantity. Oak lumber is hard, tough, durable, the porous wood stains well, and its uses are too extensive to enumerate. Several species of oaks are used as ornamentals.

Click here for more photos of the Canal at Vista Hermosa, Oaxaca Mexico for this day.