been more valuable than food and were made
into cordage, cloth, ladders, sandals, cradles, fish-
nets, matting and basketry. As recently as World
War II, yucca fibers were made into rope, twine,
and paper for the U.S. Navy.
Yucca blossoms and fruit are edible but not the
roots, whose high levels of saponin are useful for
soap making or as a fish poison. Some tribes used
roots as a laxative or childbirth aid. Fruits were
eaten raw, roasted or processed for winter storage.
Torrey yuccas, or “Spanish daggers” (Yucca
torreyi), and banana yuccas, or “datil” (Yucca bac-
cata), are two of our more imposing Trans Pecos
species, somewhat similar in appearance and tra-
ditional use. Their fruits are likened to applesauce
or dates (“datil” is Spanish for “date”), eaten raw
or roasted, preserved or fermented. These species
commonly hybridize.
Soaptree yucca (Yucca elata) produces an edible
flower stalk and blossoms, followed by edible fruits.
But the saponin-rich roots give the plant its com-
mon name of soaptree, as they provide the ingredi-
ents for soap or shampoo still preferred by ceremo-
nial dancers for the luster it gives to hair. It was even
thought to prevent baldness!
OCOTILLO
(Fouquieria splendens)
This odd-looking plant with the stiff, spiny stems
is in the ocotillo family (Fouquieriaceae), which has
only 11 species in its single genus, with ocotillo
being the most widespread and the only one found
outside of Mexico. Despite the apparent lack of
leaves, ocotillos actually have two types: part of one
type hardens into the stiff spines, while the other
type produces the many small leaves that appear
briefly after a rain. Ocotillo has been grown as a
“living fence” (stems grow roots easily and can be
planted in trenches), in other structures and for fire-
wood.
The scarlet flowers and fruit pods are edible,
and a tasty drink is made by soaking the flowers in
water. Stems contain waxes and resins useful for
cleaning, waxing, varnishing or conditioning
leather. The Apache bathed in a decoction of roots
for fatigue and applied powdered roots to swellings
and wounds. They brewed tea from flowers for
coughs and sore throats.
THE CACTI
Cacti come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes,
and spines: shrublike with jointed stems (chollas),
flattened pads (prickly pears), or low-growing sin-
gles or multiple clumps (rainbow, hedgehog cacti).
Their many uses include foods, medicines, dyes
and waxes. Cactus seeds contain oil and protein;
the stems, pads (nopals), flowers, and fruits (tunas)
contain vitamin C, phosphorus, and calcium.
Cholla flower buds (Opuntia imbricata) have few
calories, but a two-tablespoon serving has as much
calcium as 8 ounces of milk.
The hedgehog cacti (Echinocereus spp.) have
some of the tastiest, though small, fruits, but prick-
ly pears (Opuntia spp.) take the prize for most val-
ued. In 1995, when Texas legislators declared
prickly pear to be the Texas state plant, they were
simply the latest to recognize its worth, both his-
toric and current.
Historically, prickly pear harvest time was a
huge tribal celebration and social occasion. The
Kiowa documented their 1856 “Prickly Pear Sun
Dance” on a hide calendar, where tunas are pic-
tured above the medicine lodge. According to
ethnographer James Mooney, who documented
the symbolism, the dance was probably held in
late fall, at a place with an abundance of ripe fruit.
THE MESQUITES
(Prosopis spp.)
J. Frank Dobie was fond of this Mexican
adage: "With prickly pears alone one can live, but
with prickly pears and mesquite beans, a person
will get fat." Indeed, mesquite’s sweet pods con-
tain high levels of protein and sugars, plus calci-
um, magnesium, potassium, iron, zinc, amino
acids, and fiber. Fructose and soluble fibers make
mesquite touted for its effectiveness in controlling
blood sugar in diabetics. The ripening pods taste
sweet either raw or cooked.
Mesquite was possibly the most widespread
and stable resource available to tribes in the desert
southwest. Ethnobotanist Richard Felger suc-
cinctly sums up its virtues: "It was utilized for food,
fuel, shelter, weapons, tools, fiber, dye, cosmetics,
medicine and a multitude of other practical as
well as aesthetic purposes: every part of the plant
was used."
In southwest Texas, mesquites are the primary
source of nectar for honey, and mesquite wood is
a mainstay for Texas barbeque. Finally, mesquite’s
best gift might be to the land itself: as a legume, it
enriches soil by fixing nitrogen.
Thorn, spine or prickle, these desert treasures
are worthy of our – cautious – admiration!
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REFERENCES
A Practical Guide to Edible & Useful Plants by Delena Tull.
Texas Monthly Press, 1987.
Edible Wild Plants of the Prairie, an Ethnobotanical Guide by Kelly
Kindscher. University Press of Kansas, 1987.
Medicinal Wild Plants of the Prairie, an Ethnobotanical Guide by
Kelly Kindscher. University Press of Kansas, 1992.
Remarkable Plants of Texas, Uncommon Accounts of Our Common
Natives by Matt Warnock Turner. University of Texas Press,
2009.
The Useful Wild Plants of Texas, the Southeastern and Southwestern
United States, the Southern Plains, and Northern Mexico by Scooter
Cheatham and Marshall C. Johnston with Lynn Marshall.
Useful Wild Plants, Inc. 1995. Volume 1.
Trees and Shrubs of the Trans-Pecos and Adjacent Areas by A.
Michael Powell. University of Texas Press, 1998.
Wildflowers of the Big Bend Country, Texas by Barton H.
Warnock. Sul Ross State University, 1970.
Several websites including:
http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/shrub/yucbac/a
ll.html#AUTHORSHIP%20AND%20CITATION
http://www.desertusa.com/index.html
http://www.manataka.org/page1885.html
http://www.texasbeyondhistory.net/trans-
p/nature/plants.html
http://medplant.nmsu.edu/index.shtm
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