Horse Crippler Cactus

Scientific Name(s): Echinocactus texensis
Abundance: uncommon
What: flowers, fruit
How: raw, cooked
Where: sunny fields, dry areas
When: fall, winter
Nutritional Value: calories, vitamin C
Dangers: beware of thorns!

Leaf Arrangement: Not applicable, as Echinocactus texensis is a cactus and does not have true leaves, with the primary structure being the ribbed stem.

Leaf Shape: The plant lacks traditional leaves; the spines emerge from areoles on the ribbed stem.

Leaf Venation: Not applicable due to the absence of traditional leaves.

Leaf Margin: Not applicable as there are no leaves.

Leaf Color: Not applicable; the plant features a green to bluish-green stem.

Flower Structure: Flowers are solitary, growing from the crown of the cactus.

Flower Color: The flowers are usually pink to red.

Fruit: Produces a fleshy, barrel-shaped fruit, approximately 1" in diameter, clustered at the center of the cactus.

Seed: Seeds are small and black, contained within the fruit.

Stem: Globular to cylindrical, with pronounced ribs and areoles from which spines emerge.

Hairs: The plant has spines, which are modified hairs, typically dense and covering the ribs.

Height: The cactus typically grows to a height of 6 to 8 inches.

Top view of Horse Crippler with fruit.


Side view of Horse Crippler with fruit.




Close-up of fruit.


Close-ups of thorns.




Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping.


North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture.


Hiding low in the grasslands of the southwestern counties of Texas as well as randomly in other arid prairie locations, Horse Crippler Cactus is a boobytrap waiting to puncture the foot of the unwary. This low, dome-shaped cactus grows only 1-2 inches tall but up to a foot across with a lifespan measure in centuries! These cacti are covered with clusters of seven or so wicked thorns, one of which will be 2-3 inches long while the others will only be about 1 inch in length. Most of the thorns will have a slight downward curve. Horse Cripple Cacti can bloom in spring through summer and these flowers have red centers surrounded by duo-toned, pink or light purple petals which open during the day but close up at night.

The ripe, red fruit looks very similar to the "tunas" of prickly pears and are used the same way. The flavor of these fruit is more subtle than that of prickly pears but still delicious. Due to the numerous seeds, I prefer squeezing the juice from these fruit then boiling it down into a syrup. The seeds can be collected from the fruit, roasted, then boiled into porridge or ground into a gluten-free flour.

Horse Crippler Cactus transplant easily into WELL drained pots and will love the hottest, direct sunlight Texas has to offer. They love the south or west-facing, wind-swept balconies of apartments where any other plant would shrivel up and die.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Cow's Tongue Cactus

Scientific Name(s): Opuntia engelmannii var. linguiformis
Abundance: uncommon
What: pads, flowers, fruit
How: peeled pads can be pickled, fried, made into jerky; fruit can be raw or blended into a smoothy/icee drink; juice from strained fruit can be drunk, made into ice cream, mixed drinks, preserves.
Where: sunny fields, landscaping
When: fruit in fall, pads-all year though younger pads taste better.
Nutritional Value: vitamin C, some minerals
Dangers: burn or scrap off the tiny needles (glochids) before eating, 1% of population is allergic to cactus-based foods.

Leaf Arrangement: The plant features small, ephemeral leaves that quickly transform into spines, with the primary structure being the stem pads.

Leaf Shape: Initially small and cylindrical, the leaves quickly modify into spines and are not a lasting feature.

Leaf Venation: Not applicable, as the leaves transition into spines and lack typical venation patterns.

Leaf Margin: Undefined in the modified spiny leaves.

Leaf Color: Initially green but quickly replaced by spines and therefore not a prominent feature.

Flower Structure: Flowers are solitary and grow from the edges of the stem pads.

Flower Color: The flowers are typically yellow, sometimes with red or orange hues.

Fruit: Produces a fleshy, elongated fruit, which can be red or purple when ripe.

Seed: The seeds are small, contained within the fruit.

Stem: Characterized by flat, broad stem segments, commonly referred to as pads, that are linguiform (tongue-shaped).

Hairs: No true hairs are present, but there are spines and glochids (tiny barbed bristles) on the stem segments.

Height: The plant typically forms a low, spreading shrub, generally reaching 2 to 4 feet in height.

Cow's tongue cactus used in landscaping.


Cow's tongue cactus fruit (picture taken in mid September in Houston).


Another closeup of cow's tongue fruit (also taken in mid-September in Houston).


North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture.


Closely related to prickly pears, cow's tongue cacti pads and fruit can be used in the same manner as other Opuntia species. The pads can be peeled then sliced and cooked like green beans though much slimier. The peeled pads can also be sprinkled with your favorite beef/venison jerky spices and then dehydrated into "vegan jerky".

The fruits are usually mashed, boiled, and then strained through a fine mesh such as cheesecloth to release their delicious juice. This juice can be drank straight, made into jelly or wine, or slightly sweetened (it's already quite sweet) then boiled down to make a syrup.

Before doing anything with the pads or fruit you must remove their tiny, almost invisible needles called glochids. Use a barbecue tongs to harvest the pads/fruit and then burn off the glochids with a torch or gas stovetop.

Burning glochids.


Peel the fruit then mash it up in a saucepan. Add just enough water so as to cover the pulp then boil for about ten minutes. Let the resulting juice cool a little then filter out the pulp and seeds through cheesecloth or other fine filter.

Peeled fruit before mashing and boiling.


Straining the juice.



Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Creeping Cucumber

Scientific name: Melothria pendula
Abundance: uncommon
What: green (unripe) fruit
How: raw
Where: woods, borders, stream banks
When: spring, summer, fall
Nutritional Value: carbohydrates and protein
Dangers: The seeds/fruit contain a POWERFUL laxative when ripe, so avoid purple or black fruit, only eat light-green ones.

Leaf Arrangement: The leaves of Melothria pendula are arranged alternately along the stem.

Leaf Shape: Leaves are usually simple, ovate to cordate, measuring approximately 1 to 2 inches in length.

Leaf Venation: Palmate venation, with multiple veins running outwards from the base to the edges of each leaf.

Leaf Margin: The leaf margin is typically entire or slightly toothed.

Leaf Color: The leaves are usually medium green.

Flower Structure: The flowers are1/4" across, with 5 notched petals fused together at their bases, and occur in small clusters at leaf-stem junctions.

Flower Color: Flowers are yellow.

Fruit: The immature fruit is small, green, and ovoid, resembling miniature watermelons about 1" in length. Ripe fruit is very dark purple and also about 1" long.

Seed: Inside the fruit are small, flat, and brown seeds.

Stem: The stems have tendrils, located at the leaf-stem junction, for climbing.

Hairs: Leaves may have extremely fine hairs.

Height: Melothria pendula is a low-growing vine, typically trailing or climbing, and can reach varying heights.

Creeping Cucumber vine with unripe but edible fruit.


Unripe fruit (which is when you eat it), flower, tendril, and leaf.

The leaf is at a bad angle so you can't see it's true shape.

Close-up of Creeping Cucumber fruit at the right stage to eat.


Fruit cut in half.


Creeping Cucumber leaf.


Close-ups of the Creeping Cucumber flower.


Five petals fused at the bases, with a notch in the top of each.


Ripe, purple Creeping Cucumbers, which should not be eaten!

Picture courtesy of Wildcat.

Busted open, the insides of ripe Creeping Cucumbers seem grape-like but with flat, pale seeds.


Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping.


North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture.


Creeping Cucumbers are tiny, delicious, cucumber-flavored fruit that look like little watermelons when young but then turn a dark purple/black when ripe. Do NOT eat the ripe (purple/black) fruit! At that stage they are an incredibly powerful laxative. Only eat the light-green, watermelony looking fruits.

These vines are found in moist areas both in sun and in shady areas. I've found them along stream banks in the deep shade of the Texas Piney Woods as well as growing along a sunny wall in downtown Houston where a sprinkler kept the soil wet. They begin growing in early spring and continue to live through the summer and fall. They can even be found through the winter if it is mild enough, but a frost usually kills them.

The unripe, light-green fruit is eaten raw without peeling and really does taste just like a cucumber. Use it anywhere you would use a cucumber, though I have not tried making pickles out of them. There's no reason pickling them shouldn't work. The vines will produce new fruit as long as it lives so it's quite common to find flowers, unripe fruit and ripe fruit all on the same vine right up until a frost hits.

I am not kidding when I say the ripe (purple/black) fruit is a powerful laxative. Its bowel-purging effects hits very rapidly and very uncontrollably and can result in serious injury to the body from dehydration.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Devil's Claw

Scientific Name(s): Proboscidea altheaefolia and Proboscidea parviflora
Abundance: uncommon
What: young seed pods, seeds
How: seed pods cooked; seeds raw or cooked
Where: fields, disturbed soil, full sun
When: summer
Nutritional Value: unknown

Leaf Arrangement: The leaves are alternately arranged along the stems.

Leaf Shape: The leaves are heart-shape, with a lengths and widths of about 3 to 5 inches.

Leaf Venation: The venation is palmate.

Leaf Margin: The leaf margin is usually entire but may be wavy.

Leaf Color: The leaves are typically green, with no significant color variation between the top and underside.

Flower Structure: The flowers are trumpet-shaped, with a unique long, slender projection resembling a unicorn's horn. The diameter of the flower is around 1 to 2 inches.

Flower Color: The flowers can range in color, including shades of white, pink, or purple.

Fruit: The fruit is a capsule, often curved, up to 9" long, and contains numerous seeds. After maturity, it dries and splits open longitudinally, with the tips of each side curving into a sharpe, clingy point. 

Seed: Seeds are small, flat, and have a papery wing for wind dispersal.

Stem: The stems are usually green, sometimes with a reddish tint, and much branching.

Hairs: The plant may have fine hairs on the stems, leaves, flowers, and seed pods.

Height: Devil's claw can reach a height of 1 to 3 feet.

Devil's Claw plant (Proboscidea altheaefolia).

Photo compliments of Burr Williams.


Photo compliments of Terri Cox.

Close-up of Proboscidea altheaefolia flower.

Photo compliments of Burr Williams.

Close-up of seedpods. Note the fine hairs on the pod.

Photo compliments of Burr Williams.


Photo compliments of Terri Cox.

Mature seedpod starting to split open.

Photo compliments of Terri Cox.

Fully dried and split seedpod.

Photo compliments of Terri Cox.

Devil's Claw (Proboscidea parviflora) plant.

Compliments of Brandy McDaniel.

Close-up of pink, annual Devil's Claw (Proboscidea parviflora) flower.

Compliments of Brandy McDaniel.

Close-up of pink, annual Devil's Claw (Proboscidea parviflora) seedpods.

Compliments of Brandy McDaniel.

Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping.


North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture.



Across the sandy, arid areas of west and south Texas grows Devil's Claw...though sometimes its hooked seedpods deliver it all the way to east Texas fields, too! This large weed, practically a bush, appears after a good rain and then grows throughout the hot summer. Proboscidea parviflora is an annual which grows to maturity and then dies over the course of the summer. This annual species has pinkish flowers. The perennial is Proboscidea altheaefolia and it's flowers are yellowish-white. It may die back in the winter but then returns from its deep, thick taproot. The leaves of both species are heart-shaped, have sticky surfaces, and smell bad. Mature seedpods can reach fifteen inches in lengths. Seeds are black in color but a white-seeded variety was also grown by Native Americans. The pods split into two or sometimes three sections when mature.

The young, tender pods are cooked (boiled, steamed, or fried) before eating...but frying them like okra is the best. Boiled or steamed Devil's Claw pods are kind of an...acquired taste. If they are starting to get tough just leave them on the plant until the pod matures. This is indicated by the pod turning hard, brown/black in color, and beginning to split. At this point collect the seeds. They can be eaten raw but roasting them first improves the flavor. Once roasted they can be boiled as a porridge or ground into a gluten-free flour.

The fibers of the mature seedpods were prized for weaving baskets.

 

Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.

Farkleberry

Scientific Name(s): Vaccinium arboreum
Abundance: uncommon
What: berries
How: raw, cooked, jam/jelly, maybe wine
Where: woods
When: fall, winter
Nutritional Value: antioxidants, some carbohydrates
Dangers: none, but do not mistake for toxic Chinese privet.

Leaf Arrangement: Leaves are alternate along the stem.

Leaf Shape: Simple, elliptical leaves with entire or slightly dentate margins, typically measuring 2 to 4 inches in length.

Leaf Color: Foliage is typically green, but it can turn reddish in the fall.

Flower Structure: Small, bell-shaped, white to pinkish flowers arranged in racemes.

Flower Size: Individual flowers are around 0.2 to 0.3 inches long.

Fruit (Berry): The fruit is a berry, typically dark purple to black when ripe, measuring around 0.2 to 0.4 inches in diameter. Grow individually.

Bark: Bark is a rusty-reddish color with a brick-like pattern. 

Height: Farkleberry can grow to be a large shrub or a small tree, reaching heights of 10 to 30 feet.

Hairs: Stems and leaves are generally smooth.

Branching Pattern: The branching pattern is irregular, and the plant may have a somewhat open form.

Growth Form: Farkleberry can have a multi-stemmed or single-trunked growth form.

Ripe farkleberries. They remain edible even when shriveled into raisin-like appearance.


Close-up of farkleberries.


Dried farkleberries.


Smashed fruit. Farkleberries have very small seeds compared to many other viburnum fruit.


Close-up of Farkleberry flowers.


Unripe farkleberries (late August, Big Thicket State Park).


Farkleberry leaves. Note the alternating opposite arrangement. The leaves turn red in the winter and usually drop off though many leaves will still be attached when new leaves are budding.




Farkleberry trunk. Note the "brick-like" pattern of the bark.




Young farkleberry branches have a reddish color but lack the brick-like bark pattern.


Texas distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture. The marked counties are guidelines only. Plants may appear in other counties, especially if used in landscaping.


North American distribution, attributed to U. S. Department of Agriculture.


Filling the spaces between bigger trees in gulf coast and east Texas woods, the small, understory Farkleberry trees play a vital role in keeping woodland creatures fed...including foragers! Their distinctive bark, looking like orange/brown brickwork makes it an easy plant to identify even when neither flowers or fruit are present. Novice foragers often mistake the Farkleberry for Yaupon holly (Ilex vomitoria) based on their similar leaves. While both grow their leaves in a zig-zag pattern, the edges of Farkleberry leaves are smooth while Yaupon holly leaf edges are bumpy. Another close relative, Rusty Blackhaw (Viburnum rufidulum), has similar bark and leaves but football-shaped fruit containing one big seed.

Farkleberries are ripe when black which happens in the fall and will remain on the tree and edible well into winter even when somewhat dried and wrinkled. They make a sweet snack, though somewhat small and seedy.


Buy my book! Outdoor Adventure Guides Foraging covers 70 of North America's tastiest and easy to find wild edibles shown with the same big pictures as here on the Foraging Texas website.