|
Peruvian Pepper Trees: San Diego's Signature Historical Tree
July 2016
By Will Bowen, PhD
 There are six old pepper trees in association with the El Cuervo Adobe. Courtesy Will Bowen |
This past April I went down to CalTrans' offices for a special meeting about the Peruvian pepper trees (Schinus molle) of Old Town. The city had invited citizenry to comment on their proposed project to remove and destroy some 18 or more pepper trees as part of their plan to improve sidewalks along Juan Street.
There were a number of people in attendance including city engineers, arborists, archaeologists, and historians. Luminaries included Bruce Coons, the executive director of Save Our Heritage (SOHO) Organisation. Almost everyone thought the city should try and save the trees; but if they had to be cut down, then they should be replaced with new pepper trees.
Bruce Coons remarked that pepper trees are our "signature historical tree" and "Pepper trees are how we used to locate old adobes out in the San Diego back country!"
The city agreed to do their best to save trees but they stressed that they could not replace them with like trees because pepper trees are on the State's invasive plant list and hence it would be against the law.
Instead, the city planned on replacing the cut trees, with varieties such as cork oak, which is on the approved list, even though cork oak is not native to this area and has nothing to do with Old Town history.
I walked the sidewalks of Juan Street where they had already marked the trees to be felled with orange DayGlo paint. Some of them seemed very old. The sidewalk didn't look that bad to me. With a little work and a good steam cleaning they could be as good as new.
The problem, however, is that all the trees seemed in very poor health, with very little foliage and a build up of dead leaves obstructing all the branches. No one cares for the trees and they are not watered. The only water they get comes from the watering of the small nearby Old Town golf course.
Another problem is that there are numerous 6 inch stumps of cut pepper trees all along the sidewalk which could cause people to trip or stub their toe. These stumps should be leveled.
Pepper trees are very important in San Diego history. They were brought here by Spanish sailors in colonial times and planted around many of our earliest dwellings. The oldest pepper tree is said to be up at San Luis Rey Mission in Oceanside, but there is a very large and very old tree right next to the old CalTrans building in Old Town.
In Peñasquitos, there are pepper trees around the El Cuervo Adobe, the Lopez homestead ruins, and the Johnson Taylor ranch house. They were planted for shade and as a wind break. They are hardy and drought resistant and do well in this climate.
There are also lots of pepper trees in nearby Sorrento Valley because Andrew Cassidy, the first tide keeper of the bay, planted a large orchard of them on his ranch, which was built on the ruins of Bonafacio Lopez's country adobe.
In Peru, where the trees come from, they are revered as a sacred plant. The Incas planted them around their temples and made "chicha", a native beer from their berries—which look and taste a lot like peppercorns. The spirituality movement in Mexico adopted the tree and used the fronds to sweep over the body in ritual cleansings called "limpiadas."
We here in Peñasquitos Canyon are confronted with the same issue as in Old Town. Pepper trees are part of the historical past of the canyon and were planted around all of our old dwellings. If something were to happen to our pepper trees or if they were to die of old age or disease we would not be able to legally replace them. It seems to me that we might need some special legislation to help protect these symbols of our past and keep our historic pepper trees flourishing into the future.
Originally appeared in Canyon News, Summer 2015 issue, reprinted with permission.
|
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
|
