By Liliana Usvat
Blog 294-365
Their extensive root systems physically anchored the oases in place, and protected them from periodic floods; their huge branches deflected the wind, which can be fiercer than 100 kilometres per hour.
Once this protection was gone, the huge flood in around 500 AD destroyed the agricultural systems with which the Nazca people had replaced the huarango, turning the terrain into desert.
Archeology
Blog 294-365
Common names
- Algarroba
- American Carob
- Huarango
- Kiawe
- Mesquite
The Plant
Huarango trees are literally life saving. Their pods can be used as fodder for livestock, ground into flour for human consumption, sweetened into molasses, or even fermented into beer.
The light yellow flowers are a haven for bees, and the tree itself helps capture seasonal floodwaters on their way from the Andes to the Pacific, supporting humans, animals, and plan.
Huarango trees capture moisture from fog in winter, and their exceptionally long
roots (sometimes over 50 m) are able to tap deep groundwater, making life
possible in the desert. Sadly Huarango forest is on the edge of extinction: a
situation reflected by its national classification as threatened and by the regional
government by-law making all Huarango deforestation illegal .
The fruit of mesquite is basically a pod or legume, which grows up to a length of anything between 16 inches and 30 inches and its width is a little more than 1.5 cm, while its thickness is about 8 mm. Usually, the weight of one mesquite pod is roughly 12 grams and it encloses three main segments - the external shell, the seeds and the pulp. All these are contained in a hard shell that is difficult to open. Each pod contains about 25 seeds on average. All the components or parts of the mesquite fruit are used. According to estimation, on average, one mesquite tree produces approximately 40 kg fruit every year. Generally, 70 trees grow in one hectare of field.
The Huarango is the primary producer, providing invaluable ecosystem services
including soil fertility, desalination, climate improvement and a key
refuge foranimals in desert areas e.g. rare birds such as the slender-billed
finch (Xenospinus concolor). The importance of conserving this resource is widely
recognised in Peru
The Huarango trees of Ica produce two crops of pods per year: a large one in April and smaller one in October. The production is prolific: a tree 20-70 years old can produce 50-150 kg of pods per year depending on the pollination and seasonal conditions.
The sweet yellow pods (known as huaranga) are so nutritious they are considered a 'complete' food, containing high levels of carbohydrate and protein as well as vitamins A, C, E, B1, B2, folic acid and minerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium and iron).
They have been used for human food for at least 7,000 years, and in pre-Columbian times sometimes provided an estimated 50% of the diet for local populations.
In the dry forests of Northern Peru the pods of the Algarrobo tree (Prosopis juliflora andProsopis pallida), which are similar to the Huarango (Prosopis limensis), are still used to make a variety of products.
Medicinal Uses
When ground into flour and used in baking, no sugar is necessary. Studies of similar mesquite flour being used in the US
Its sweetness is a result of fructose, which does not require insulin to be metabolized.
The pods have 11-17 percent protein, including lysine, and a healthy 25% fiber.
It takes between 4 and 6 hours to digest, as opposed to the 1 to 2 hours it takes to digest wheat. Since the body metabolizes it more slowly, it means a more constant blood sugar level over a longer period and one does not get hungry as soon.
It is also a good source of calcium, magnesium, potassium, iron, and zinc among other vitamins and minerals. It is low carbohydrate, low glycemic, and low in fat.
A long tradition of medicinal uses ranges from digestive aids to cauterization.
Other Names
The kiawe tree, as it is known in Hawaii, and the huarango tree, as it is known in Peru is the source of the best tasting mesquite beans ever. These are so very delicious.
The huarango tree, native to the coast of Peru , is known in Quechua as tacco, which means "The Tree"—not just a tree, any tree, but "The" tree, "The One." The ultimate provider. It has also been called "The Staff of Life," or "The King of the Desert."
Reforestation
To understand the profound importance of the huarango, one must realize that Nasca is at the heart of one of the most fragile ecosystems on earth.
Part of the Atacama-Sechura desert that extends into Chile
With roots reaching as deep as 60 metres underground to seek out water, lifespans beyond 1000 years and leaves that trap airborne moisture, huarango trees (Prosopis pallida) were a "keystone" species that turned otherwise arid river banks in Peru into oases flanked by fertile flood plains. They also fertilised the otherwise poor soil by dropping leaves and fixing nitrogen.
Reforestation in Peru ,- since 2007. In this time, with the help of over 18,000 local residents we have planted over 44,000 native trees. The main aims are 1. to restore the critically endangered dry huarango forest, 2. to revive the planting and use of ancient tree species and 3. to increase environmental protection.
Is this tree the salvation of Spain and Greece mountains? It can be. Hope is not too late for reforestation using this tree.
Huarango Festival
Through an annual Huarango Festival, and the marketing of the many huarango fruit products, people of Peru are demonstrating the true value of this remarkable tree. They are also planting new huarangos in schools and in community gardens. Students at the San Juan de Bautista University have planted more than 2,000 huarangos on dunes around the city.
The Huarango Festival (now in its sixth year) is organised in April over three days to coincide with the Huarango pod harvest. This popular family event is attended by several thousand people and attracts wide local press coverage. The regional government has been supportive following its establishment by the project, declaring the festival for official inclusion in the municipal regional calendar.
History of Huarango Trees in Peru
The ancient Nazca people of Peru are famous for the lines they drew in the desert depicting strange animal forms.
A further mystery is what happened to this once great civilization, which suddenly vanished 1,500 years ago….
Now a team of archaeologists have found the demise of the Nazca society was linked in part to the fate of the Huarango tree.
Their extensive root systems physically anchored the oases in place, and protected them from periodic floods; their huge branches deflected the wind, which can be fiercer than 100 kilometres per hour.
Once this protection was gone, the huge flood in around 500 AD destroyed the agricultural systems with which the Nazca people had replaced the huarango, turning the terrain into desert.
Archeology
David Beresford-Jones of the University of Cambridge and Alex Chepstow-Lusty of the French Institute for Andean Studies in Lima, Peru, analysed 1.5-metre-deep profiles of pollen distribution in soil from Nazca oasis sites.
In the oldest, deepest layers, about 70 per cent of the pollen is from huarango trees. Around 1.2 metres down, pollen from crops such as maize and cotton joins that of the huarango, showing the beginnings of agricultural expansion.
And around a depth of 80 centimetres, corresponding to around 200 AD to 400 AD, the crop pollen starts to dominate, and huarango pollen rapidly diminishes, showing that most trees had been felled.
Suddenly, about 50 centimetres down – corresponding to about 500 AD – the only pollen is from plants of the Chenopodiaceae and Amaranthaceae families, which thrive in salty water, marking the flood that doomed the Nazca. Thereafter, the salty soil could no longer support crops.
Deforestation
In the last year alone, 80% of a huarango forest near Tunga was lost. [iv]Thirty years ago the province of Ica
Links
- http://www.kimmacquarrie.com/ancient-nazca-civilization-committed-fatal-ecological-error/
- http://greatergood.com/2014_august_41235_treesforcities/#AgdevGAcuBTjPF2K.99
- http://livegeo.www2.solvention.de/Magazine/Kew_in_Peru_-_June_08.html
