(Figueroa Mountain – Fringed Redmaid – Click image for larger version. The focus of this image is the superior ovary, which becomes the seed.)

Fringed redmaids were seen in a number of places in the lower altitudes of Figueroa Mountain Road this year on two short trips there in February.

Below is a sequence of redmaid photos, of interest because of the color variations. I think they are all variations of Calandrinia ciliata – I wonder if the palest is an albino variant (recessive allele), or a genetic variety. I have seen white blue-eyed grass, and some white clarkias (normally shades of pink).

Khutash is the name given to them by the Chumash, where the “uses include eating the toasted seeds and using the flowers as offerings in sacred hot springs” (1).

“Large quantities of Calandrinia ciliata seeds have been recovered by archaeologists in burial sites in Chumash territory in the Channel Islands of Southern California (Timbrook 1993). Not only were the seeds used as ceremonial offerings, as evidenced by these burial sites, but also they are often mentioned in Chumash myths (Timbrook 1990). ” (2).

“In the old days, the Chumash people bathed frequently in hot springs (6). The pool was prepared with prayer. Red maids, Calandrinia ciliata, called khutash in Chumash, were sprinkled onto the water. The water was treated with a few Californian bay leaves, Umbellularia californica, psha’n in Chumash (pronounced pshokn). People bathed in the water to soothe themselves, comfort their arthritic joints and to feel normal again.” (3)

Redmaids are also found on both the eastern and western areas of More Mesa, and grew in abundance in the burned area last year, 2008.

(Figueroa Mountain – Fringed Redmaid, about about 1/5 white  – Click image for larger version)

(Figueroa Mountain – Fringed Redmaid, half white – Click image for larger version)

(Figueroa Mountain – Fringed Redmaid, mostly white, growing in an area where the cream cups grow – Click image for larger version)

(Figueroa Mountain – Fringed Redmaid, the entire plant – Click image for larger version)

References:

1. Palliative Care Among Chumash People
   http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/2/2/143
2. USDA Plant Guide
   http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/doc/cs_caci2.doc
3. The Advantages of Traditional Chumash Healing
   http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1062165