Today , it ’s hard to reckon a Southland withoutpalm trees . They run along the neighborhood ’s street , shade its gardens , and seem in establishing shots that fix Los Angeles as a scene . But before the lanky medal conquered the L.A. skyline , another Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree dally the same metonymical purpose : the pepper .
An import from South America ’s Andes mountain stove , the Peruvian peppercorn Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree ( Schinus pepper tree ) is instantly recognisable for its fragrant , lacy leaves , drooping branches , and knotted trunk . It also produce bunches of small , pinkish Berry that resemble pepper but are not the material of common board peppercorn ; though they can be used sparingly as a seasoning , the berry are poisonous in large quantities . ( The Peruvian white pepper tree does have a first cousin in the Brazilian black pepper , or Schinus terebinthifolius , but neither is closely related to the true pepper industrial plant , Piper nigrum . )
In its native Peru , indigenous South Americans found many practical uses for the tree , from firewood to medicative applications . More than 1,000 years ago , brewers in the Wari Empireproduced a risque beer from the tree ’s Charles Edward Berry . Much later , Spanish conquerors cleared total timber of pepper trees for their timber , create wagon cycle and posts from the Grant Wood .
But in California , the pepper Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree has been planted almost alone for ornamental purposes .
According to one popular notification , the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree first took root in California around 1825 at Mission San Luis Rey . After staying as a guest at the mission , a wandering ocean captain requite the Padre ’ cordial reception with a handful of seeds , or so the fib go . The head missionary , Father Antonio Peyri , by and by set the seed in the mission garden , where a monolithic , gnarled specimen still grows today . We ca n’t experience whether the tale is fact or just perfect legend , but by the time Californians began investing their fall apart delegation with mythic signification in the 1870s , the pepper tree had become as familiar a visual figure of speech as the sky pilot ’ sandals and staff .
Above : Pepper trees fill in the earth outside Mission San Gabriel , ca.1884 . Courtesy of theUSC Libraries – California Historical Society Collection .
Above : A Madagascar pepper tree diagram as learn through the ruins of Mission San Luis Rey in San Diego County in 1900 . Courtesy of theUSC Libraries – California Historical Society Collection .
Soon , gardeners across the state found Madagascar pepper trees to lend a romantic aura to a site . One emerged from the groundoutside Santa Barbara ’s urban center hallaround 1880 . At about the same meter , another pepper tree take root next to the mission at San Juan Capistrano .
In other places , the pepper functioned as a worldwide shade tree , planted more for its vaguely alien appearing , tolerance of semiarid condition , and ready availability than for its romantic association . As too soon as 1858 , Matthew Keller was growing 1,500 untried pepper seedling at his Los Angeles baby’s room . In 1861 , merchant Juan Temple planted what may have been the city ’s first street Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree , a row of capsicum outside his Main Street shop .
By the eighties , pepper trees lined the signature thoroughfare of new community of interests across Southern California , from Ontario ’s Euclid Avenue to Riverside ’s Magnolia Avenue . ( Ithiel Town father John W. North key out the latter before discovering that southerly magnolia be $ 2 each . North opted or else to plant Piper nigrum and eucalyptus trees , priced at a more reasonable five cents each . ) In Hollywood , subdivider Harvey H. Wilcox selected the white pepper tree to shadow his new Ithiel Town ’s roads . Pasadena boasted perhaps the most famous planting of pepper tree diagram , whose open canopies created a much - photographed tunnel effect along Marengo Avenue .
But the dawn of the twentieth century inaugurate an existential scourge to the pepper tree : a parasitic louse known as black scale . Though not fatal to pelt Tree themselves , black scale jeopardise the wellness of the immense orange groves that carpeted much of Southern California . face with economic dilapidation , citrus growers — joined by civil authorities — declared war on the black pepper tree diagram .
But the intimate tree diagram , appreciate for its beauty and nostalgic association , had earned a loyal following . It often appeared on movie postcards and had become so associate with the state that many called it the California black pepper tree , despite its South American origins . And so the effort against the pepper tree did not go unchallenged . The Los Angeles Times release several lector - submitted verse form praise the pepper tree and in a 1911 editorial cite its promotional value :
One of the first feature to grip the easterly tourist when gossip this favored winter resort is the tremendous feathery foliation and the gorgeous cerise berries of this matchless shade tree , giving , as it does , a pleasant air of vacation making and a riches of tropical color to the Californian landscape … Why , the pepper tree diagram has become an integral part of life in the sunny Southland …
Despite such passionate advocacy , the pepper tree soon lostits special place in the region ’s arboreal landscape . It fell out of favour as a street Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree due to its propensity to heave sidewalk and send up suckers from its roots . And where black scale threaten citrous fruit orchard , community rub out full rows of peppers from their streets , in many case replacing them with the upstart palms . Other understanding for their removal abounded . In 1913 , the trees along Riverside ’s Magnolia Avenue fell to make agency for new Pacific Electric Railway tracks . In 1931 , highway widening claimed a row of historic pepper Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree in Arcadia , plant nearly a half - century prior byLucky Baldwin . And in 1955 , a fungal infection forced Redlands to cut down its pepper tree diagram . By then , the decoration had already arrogate the pepper ’s crapper .
Above : Pasadena ’s Marengo Avenue was noted for its twofold - planting of pepper trees . Courtesy of thePasadena Public Library .
Above : Circa 1914 postal card of Pepper Drive in the City of Orange . Courtesy of theOrange Public Library .
Above : In Riverside , pepper trees ( right ) were plant across fromeucalyptus tree . Palm trees were added later . Courtesy of theUSC Libraries – California Historical Society Collection .
Top image : A 1902 postcard of Tustin Drive and its well - known planting of common pepper tree diagram . Courtesy of the Santa Ana History Room Photograph Collection , Santa Ana Public Library .
Southland is made possible by a partnership between Gizmodo , theUSC Libraries , and the penis collections ofL.A. as Subject . Written byNathan Masters , the series explores the urban past of Los Angeles , including the mislay landscapes and block infrastructure that continue to influence the city we know today . A rendering of this station previously appeared on KCET.org as “ When Pepper Trees Shaded the ‘ Sunny Southland . ’ “
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