Towering over deserts, arid scrublands, and dry
tropical forests, giant cacti grow throughout the Americas, from the
United States to Argentina — often in rough terrain and on
barren, parched soils, places inhospitable to people. But as David
Yetman shows, many of these tall plants have contributed significantly
to human survival.
Yetman has been fascinated by columnar cacti for most of his life and
now brings years of study and reflection to a wide-ranging and
handsomely illustrated book. Drawing on his close association with the
Guarijíos, Mayos, and Seris of Mexico — peoples
for whom such cacti have been indispensable to survival — he
offers surprising evidence of the importance of these plants in human
cultures.
The
Great Cacti reviews the more than one hundred species of
columnar cacti, with detailed discussions of some 75 that have been the
most beneficial to humans or are most spectacular. Focusing
particularly on northwestern Mexico and the southwestern United States,
Yetman examines the role of each species in human society, describing
how cacti have provided food, shelter, medicine, even religiously
significant hallucinogens.Taking readers to the exotic sites where
these cacti are found — from sea-level deserts to frigid
Andean heights — Yetman shows that the great cacti have
facilitated the development of native culture in hostile environments,
yielding their products with no tending necessary. Enhanced by over 300
superb color photos, The Great
Cacti is both a personal and scientific overview of
sahuesos, soberbios, and other towering flora that flourish where few
other plants grow — and that foster human life in otherwise
impossible places.
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The Great Cacti
Ethnobotany and Biogeography
by David Yetman
University of Arizona Press,
2007
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a copy
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