The Many Functions And Meanings of Flora Within The Lives of Two American Immigrant Families

This paper considers the many diverse functions and meanings of flora within the lives of two American immigrant families—the Birys, a family of Alsatian immigrants living in Castroville, Texas and the Domotos, a family of Japanese immigrants living in Oakland, California. Drawing evidence from the archaeological record, modern built landscapes, oral history interviews, and written histories, I demonstrate that plant life played a central role in these families’ struggles to create livable Homeplaces. The families’ interactions with flora were dynamic and location specific, rather than fixed and the result of tradition or ethnic identity. I argue that the complex, ever-evolving quality of such interactions fosters human attachment to place.