Portuguese, but he used it to describe two kinds
of unfamiliar North American fruit: vermilion
ameixas (i.e., persimmon) and gray ameixas
(i.e., pawpaw).
In its familiar English spelling, “persim-
mon” was first used in 1612 by William Strachey
in “Historie of Travell into Virginia Britannia.”
Strachey sounded a warning about the conse-
quences of consuming the fruit before it had
ripened, “...when they are not fully ripe, they are
harsh and choakie, and furre a man’s mouth like
allam.” Not long after, in his “Generall Historie
of Virginia” (1624), Captain John Smith wrote,
“If it be not ripe it will drawe a mans mouth awrie
with much torment; but when it is ripe, it is as
delicious as an Apricock.”
There were numerous Native American
edible and medicinal uses of persimmon. The
Rappahannock used bark from the north side of
the trees as a tonic for sore throat, and they rolled
the fruit in cornmeal, stewed it, drained and
baked it, and then added hot water to make beer.
The Cherokee used the fruit fresh or dried and
made pudding from it.
Pinus sabiniana.
(Photo courtesy Nina/Wikimedia Commons)
FOR THE ARCHIVES AND NOT
FOR CURRENT USE
Some common names—such as wandering
Jew for Tradescantia zebrina, Kaffir lily for
Hesperantha coccinea (and also for Clivia), and
Digger pine for Pinus sabiniana—are offensive,
and yet we tacitly accept and use them without
examining their origins. Some of these names are
deeply ingrained and familiar, and suggestions
not to use them have prompted grumblings about
political correctness in some quarters. There is
no compelling reason to continue to use a plant
name that disparages or demonizes a group of
people when there are almost always a host of
other, better names to use.
Kaffir is doubly pejorative, in both a racial
and religious sense. In South Africa, it is a racial
slur against Bantu people; in the Muslim world,
it is a term for an infidel or unbeliever. It is not
a name that tells us anything about the popular
iridaceous plant with pink to brilliant-red
summer flowers, though it certainly reveals the
prejudice of those who popularized the designa-
tion. Better alternative common names for Kaffir
lily include scarlet river lily (a reference to the
plant’s wetland habitat preferences in its native
range of southern Africa) and crimson flag lily (a
purely descriptive moniker).
The preferred common name for Digger
pine (Pinus sabiniana) is foothill pine, but it
also goes by gray pine, or ghost pine—and, less
commonly, see-through pine (because of its
open, lacy structure). The name “Digger pine”
originated during the California Gold Rush of the
nineteenth century, when prospectors noticed
Native Americans foraging (“digging”) for pine
nuts, roots and bulbs. The gold diggers referred
to the native people as Digger Indians, a term that
is now considered derogatory. James Hickman,
editor of “The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of
California” (1909), made a point of referring
to the tree as foothill pine or gray pine, includ-
ing a note asking people not to use the pejorative
name: "I think this is better than not mentioning
the issue at all."
In “Ethnobotany of the California Indians”
(1994), Sandra Strike says that Native Americans
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