BY DANIELLE GALLO

It ’ s easy to look out over the vast desiccation of the Chihuahuan Desert and think it lifeless . It seems too harsh and belligerent an environment to support human communities .

Yet ancient peoples called this desert home as many as 8,000 years ago , long before technology made it possible to pump water from the ground , long before it was feasible to have reliable seasonal agriculture . They were hunter-gatherers , and while big game would have provided ample material for shelter , clothing and tools , it is far more likely that these seminomadic peoples would have relied more heavily on the bounty of native plants . After all , game can fight back . Plants can ’ t run away . They can be processed , dried , cooked , stored . And like bone , sinew and hide , plants could be used for construction materials for shelter , fibers for cloth , and tools to make the day-to-day necessities of life easier .

The benefits of native plants over cultivated ones are obvious . Native plants require no irrigation and no weeding ; they exist throughout a region , making permanent settlements unnecessary and preserving the flexibility of seasonal migration that helped early humans survive ; they produce their own pesticides and have their own defenses against native threats ; they seed themselves and are largely perennial . The importance of this dependability for high-caliber food , shelter and medicine cannot be overstated .

The same benefits that native plants of the Chihuahuan Desert brought to early

Cenizo Spring 2024 humans can still be accessed by our communities today . Let ’ s take a look at some of the traditional uses of plants we ’ re probably all familiar with , and may have growing right outside our homes .

Disclaimer : Eating wild plants without positive identification can be dangerous , even fatal . This article is meant to inform readers about native peoples ’ uses of plants and is not meant to encourage foraging .

AGAVE

Agave were one of the most important native plants throughout the Southwest , having a wide range and prolific availability in many regions . In those places where agave do not grow , they were a widely accepted trade item . Most parts of the agave are edible , if properly cooked . Flowers were boiled , leaves and stalks were roasted in large pits . After roasting , the leaves and stalks could be eaten immediately , or pounded into cakes that could be dried and last for weeks . Seeds could be ground into flour . Juice from young stalks could be extracted and fermented into pulque , a mild alcohol .

According to James Cornett in Native Uses of Desert Plants , the worth of a man was determined not only by his prowess at hunting but by his ability to gather , process and cook agave : “ In some areas hundreds of stalks were gathered in a single day . Leaves were collected by prying entire plants out of the soil … The leaf mass was eaten like a giant artichoke and , when the charred outer leaves were discarded , a brown juicy mass was revealed that tasted like molasses .” Agave was also harvested for its fibers . Bowstrings , nets , shoes , baskets and rope were commonly made of the fibers , especially from the lechuguilla plant , Agave lechuguilla . This variety of agave is found only in the Chihuahuan Desert and is one of our indicator species . The small , low-growing , tightly clustered lechuguilla is known locally as the “ shin dagger ,” and anyone who ’ s gone off trail in shorts through the desert will understand why .

PRICKLY PEAR

Of the many varieties of prickly pear cactus that live in the Trans-Pecos , the “ blind ” prickly pear was one of the most