Rarámuri El Cuervo

Rarámuri El Cuervo, also catalogued as El Cuervo Tarahumara, was collected from a very isolated stretch of Batopilas Canyon in Chihuahua, Mexico, at around 3,900 feet. Native Seeds/SEARCH records that it is still smoked traditionally by older Rarámuri people, which is what separates it from the New Mexican punche types in the same collection: this is a Mexican canyon accession with a living use, not a revived heritage crop. The Buffalo Seed Company, which has offered seed of it, describes a compact plant of about three feet carrying high nicotine and notably attractive yellow flowers. NS/S has placed it in the seed bank rather than the sales catalogue, so it is not available for purchase and moves only through the organisation's Native American Seed Share programme. For gardeners the practical upshot is that this is a documented, culturally active variety they are unlikely to be able to obtain.