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"David Yetman and Tom Van Devender and their Mayo consultants vividly bring to life a great depth of indigenous information in a thoroughly enjoyable and accessible manner. Here is a detailed account of a fast receding way of life from the arid edge of the American tropics presented by the leading researchers in the field. The Mayos are an enduring people and this book does them honor."—Richard Stephen Felger, Executive Director, Drylands Institute, Tucson, AZ
"Yetman and Van Devender, with abundant help from their knowledgable ethnobotanical teachers, the Mayo Indians of southern Sonora, reveal the botanical secrets of a vanishing habitat. This book is invaluable for ethnobotanists, a treasure chest for tropical afficionados, and a delight to all those with a love of wild plants in wild habitats."—Paul S. Martin, Emeritus Professor of Geosciences, University of Arizona
List of contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Part One
1. The People and the Land
2. A Brief Ethnography of the Mayos
3. Historical and Contemporary Mayos
4. Plant and Animal Life
5. Eight Plants That Make Mayos Mayos
Part Two
6. Plant Uses
7. An Annotated List of Plants
Appendix A. Mayo Region Place Names and Their Meanings
Appendix B. Yoreme Consultants
Appendix C. Gazetteer of the Mayo Region
Appendix D. Mayo Plants Listed by Spanish Name
Appendix E. Mayo Plants Listed by Mayo Name
Appendix F. Glossary of Mayo and Spanish Terms
Notes
Works Cited
Index
About the author
David Yetman is Associate Research Social Scientist at The Southwest Center at the University of Arizona and author of Where the Desert Meets the Sea: A Trader in the Land of the Seri Indians (1988), Sonora: An Intimate Geography (1996), and Scattered Round Stones: A Mayo Village in Sonora, Mexico (1998). He is host of the PBS series "The Desert Speaks." Thomas R. Van Devender is Senior Research Scientist at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. He has published many articles on the ecology and evolution of the Sonoran desert and has done pioneering research to determine ancient climates and vegetation change through studies of packrat middens.
Summary
Contains a comprehensive description of northwest Mexico's tropical deciduous forests and thornscrub on the traditional Mayo lands reaching from the Sea of Cortes to the foothills of the Sierra Madre. This book offers an account of the climate, geology, and vegetation of the region.
