Ocotillo

Scientific Name(s): Fouquieria splendens
Abundance: common
What: flowers, seeds
How: flowers for tea; seeds are ground into flour
Where: southwest desert, hillsides, sunny, arid
When: flowers in late winter through spring, seeds spring to early summer
Nutritional Value: assorted vitamins from flowers, calories from seeds
Dangers: very thorny

Medicinal Summary:
Outer Skin - improves lymph flow, especially in the pelvic region of the body; expectorant (tisane)

Leaf Arrangement: Leaves are alternately arranged along the long, slender stems.

Leaf Shape: The leaves are small, ovate to lanceolate, typically about 0.5 to 3 inches long.

Leaf Venation: Leaves exhibit pinnate venation.

Leaf Margin: Margins are entire and smooth.

Leaf Color: A bright green, turning reddish in dry conditions.

Flower Structure: Flowers are tubular and grow in clusters at the stem tips.

Flower Color: Bright red to orange.

Fruit: Produces a small, dry, five-lobed fruit.

Seed: The seeds are tiny, encapsulated within the fruit.

Stem: Stems are woody, long, slender, and spiny, capable of reaching 15 to 20 feet in length.

Hairs: Leaves are generally smooth, without significant hairs.

Height: The plant can grow 15 to 20 feet tall, with its stems reaching vertically or spreading outward.   


Ocotillo in the southwest Texas.


Rain causes ocotillo to produce short-lived leaves. These pictures were taken in April, at the beginning of their flowering season.


Immature ocotillo flowers along with mature leaves.


Close-up of immature flower buds.


Close-up of ocotillo flowers.


Close-up of ocotillo stems along with Workman's Friend Barrier Skin Cream, a product made by the company for which used to work.


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.


During most of the year the spiny, leafless ocotillo are often mistaken for a tall (up to twenty feet!), thin cacti. However, soon after a good rain small, rounded leaves appear though they don't last long. Once things return to a more arid state these leaves leave (ha ha ha!). Late winter through spring the tips of ocotillo branches will blaze with clusters of tubular, red flowers. This is a sign hummingbirds are passing through! Ocotillos and hummingbirds have co-evolved to be food source and primary pollinator, with the blooms being timed to feed hummingbirds just as they migrate through that local. An ocotillo transplanted or raised from seed will continue to bloom at the same time as it would in its source location, regardless of length of day, temperatures, or other common triggers for flower production.

Being loaded with power-giving nectar, a handful of the open flowers creates a sweet tea. Immature buds will result in a tart flavor and using too many will result in an exceedingly tart tea that'll likely be undrinkable. Keep in mind you're stealing food from hummingbirds so please harvest responsibly and minimally. About a month and a half after the flowers drop the seeds will be ready to harvest. Traditionally they were pounded into powder then boiled to make a porridge.

Accord to Charles W. Kane, ocotillo "bark" or outer layer contains a number of medicinal terpenes that improve lymph flow, especially in the pelvic region of the body. The tea works as a weak expectorant to dislodge hard to move phlegm as well as adding moisture to dry coughs.


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.

Onion - Wild

Scientific name: Allium species
Abundance: plentiful
What: bulbs and young stems/leaves
How: raw or cooked as seasoning
Where: open, sunny areas
When: all year, more common in cool weather.
Nutritional Values: Vitamin C plus small amounts of other vitamins, minerals, some carbohydrates.
Other Uses: juice acts as a weak insect repellent
Dangers: Rain lilies (Zephyranthes stellaris) look identical to wild onions and can be fatal. Crows Poison (Nothoscordum bivalve) plants also look just like wild onion and may cause upset stomaches. Only wild onion smells like onion. If it smells like onion it is safe to eat, if it just smells like grass it's Rain Lily or Crow's Poison.

Leaf Arrangement: The leaves of wild onions are typically arranged in a basal rosette emerging directly from the bulb.

Leaf Shape: The leaves are long, linear, and hollow or tubular, typically measuring about 8 to 12 inches in length and 0.1 to 0.3 inches in width. Field garlic (Allium vineale) leaves will be U-shaped along their long length.

Leaf Venation: The venation is parallel, as is common in monocots like onions.

Leaf Margin: The margins of the leaves are entire, meaning they are smooth and unbroken.

Leaf Color: The leaves are usually a vibrant green, sometimes with a bluish or glaucous tint.

Flower Structure: The flowers are small and borne in clusters on top of a leafless stalk. The cluster, or inflorescence, is often spherical or umbrella-shaped.

Flower Color: Flower colors can vary but are often pink, purple, or white.

Fruit: The fruit is a small capsule, although wild onions are more commonly identified by their bulbs and foliage.

Seed: The seeds are black and typically found inside the small capsule fruits.

Stem: The flowering stem, or scape, is round, smooth, and erect, rising directly from the bulb and holding the flower cluster aloft.

Hairs: There are no hairs on the leaves or stems.

Height: Wild onions typically grow to a height of 4 to 18 inches, including the flower stalk.

A thick stand of wild onions. These are 12"-14" tall.


A few wild onions...with some poison ivy.


A bunch of invasive Field Garlic (Allium vineale) onions close to flowering.


A single wild onion plant.


Wild onion flowers and seeds.


Close-up of Wild Onion flowers and seeds.


Another type of wild onions flowering.


Wild onion on the Texas-New Mexico border.


Close-up of west Texas wild onion flower.


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.



Wild onions form large beds of plants which drive out other plants. They are most common in cooler weather. The whole plant can be used same as chives, from the bulb to the tips of the green stems.

Larger wild onion stems can become too tough to eat unless they are boiled or stewed for a long time, but they tough ones can be easily determined when harvesting. If they are tough to cut/break then they'll be tough during eating unless cooked a long time.

The white flowers that they produce can also be eaten and give an interesting appearance to foods when the flowers are left raw. The flowers eventually turn into fairly hard, nut-like seeds that can also be eaten raw or cooked into dishes.

Wild onions can be dried for later use but be warned, if you dry them in a dehydrator your whole house will smell like onions for days.

There is a minimally toxic mimic of wild onion, which is called Crow's Poison (Nothoscordum bivalve). This plant look almost identical to a small wild onion but it lacks the onion/garlic smell when. Crushed Crow's Poison smell like grass whereas the wild onion smells like onion when crushed. The toxins in Crow's Poison are very weak and in a very low amount. You would have to eat a pound of the plant just to get a bad stomach. When dug up, Crow's Poison will have a cluster of attached bulbs underground.

Rain Lily (HIGHLY POISONOUS)


Rain Lily flowers (HIGHLY POISONOUS)




Crow's Poison (MILDLY POISONOUS)


Close-up of Crow's Poison flower (SLIGHTLY TOXIC).


Crow's Poison gets its name from the practice of mixing the mashed-up bulbs of this plant with a handful of grain which was then left out for crows to eat. The crows would get sick, some would die, and the other crows would realize they need to leave the grain of this farm alone.


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.

Palm - California Fan

Scientific Name(s): Washingtonia filifera
Abundance: uncommon
What: fruit, seeds, palm heart,
How: fruit raw, dried, cooked, jelly; seeds ground up then boiled; palm heart roasted or pickled
Where: landscaping, dry areas
When: Spring, Summer, Fall
Nutritional Value:
Dangers:

This is a native palm and was utilized by Native Americans. Fruit is blue-black, pea-sized and eaten raw, dried, cooked, or made into jellies. Fruit and seed are dried, ground up, then boiled as porridge. Edible heart (central, youngest leaf bud) is roasted though harvesting the heart kills the palm. Leaf fibers used as cordage.


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.

Palm - Canary Island Date

Scientific Name(s): Phoenix canariensis
Abundance: uncommon
What: fruit, flowers, sap
How: fruit raw, dried, cooked; flowers raw; sap straight, fermented, or evaporated to syrup or sugar
Where: landscaping
When: fall
Nutritional Value: calories


Canary Island date palm.




Canary Island date palm base.


Canary Island date palm trunk.


Trunk with almost-mature fruit.


Canary Island date palm crown.


Canary Island date palm needle-type leaf. Note the alternating pattern.


Almost ripe fruit.




These palms usually remain short and squat for ten years or more before growing taller to their final height of thirty to sixty feet. The leaves are long like those of the Queen palm rather than fan-shaped.

Fall is when the fruit appear on clusters of long strands. They are yellow-orange oval, 3/4" long, flesh is sweet but very thin over a large seed making it undesirable as snacking date. The preferred utilization of these dates is conversion to jelly...or wine! Woohoo!

A good palm oil can be pressed from its seeds using a nut press.

The sap is very sweet and can be drank as is, fermented into palm wine, or evaporated down to palm syrup or sugar. Traditionally it is collected by carefully carving a bowl-shaped depression in the tree's crown in the late afternoon or evening. The sap collects in this depression overnight and is gathered in the morning. If left exposed to sun and air it will quickly spoil. Please note, carving out the crown of the tree in this manner will likely result in the palm dying. There has been some luck/non-tree death with cutting the young fruit stalks (inflorescence spadix) in early summer and collecting the sap from them.



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.

Palm - Date

Scientific Name(s): Phoenix dactylifera
Abundance: rare
What: fruit, flowers, sap, terminal bud (palm heart)
How: fruit raw, dried, cooked; flowers raw; sap straight, fermented, or boiled down to syrup or sugar, terminal bud roasted or pickled.
Where: landscaping
When: flowers in spring, fruit in summer, sap anytime except winter
Nutritional Value: fruit - calories, vitamin C, minerals

Date palm.


Date palm base.


Date palm trunk.


Date palm crown. Needle-type leaf.


Dates from Phoenix dactylifera are considered to be the sweetest of palm fruit. Originally from the Middle East, these trees are now found along the Gulf Coast as well as California. They require a lot of water but don't do well in areas of high humidity like Houston and dates from trees in this area are usually of low quality. Trees are either male or female with the females being the only ones to produce dates after wind fertilization from a nearby male tree's pollen.

The sap is very sweet and can be drank as is, fermented into palm wine, or evaporated down to palm syrup or sugar. Traditionally it is collected by carefully carving a bowl-shaped depression in the tree's crown in the late afternoon or evening. The sap collects in this depression overnight and is gathered in the morning. If left exposed to sun and air it will quickly spoil.

Date palm flowers appear in the spring and are eaten raw. Palm hearts (terminal buds) are the "root" the center-most, youngest leaf at the very top of the tree. It is harvested by cutting off the top of the tree and carving out the palm heart which kills the tree.


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.

Palm - Dwarf Palmetto

Scientific name: Sabal minor
Abundance: plentiful
What: The "heart" of the plant, fruit
How: Raw, cooked
Where: Shady, moist, low areas
When: Buds all year, fruit late summer to mid-fall
Nutritional Value: rich source of carbohydrates
Other uses: Fibers/cordage
Dangers: very pointy leaves

Leaf Arrangement: The leaves are arranged in a fan-like or palmate manner, emerging from a central point.

Leaf Shape: The leaves are palmately compound, with each leaf blade having a length of about 3 to 4 feet and a width of approximately 2 to 3 feet.

Leaf Venation: The venation is of the leaflets is parallel.

Leaf Margin: The leaf margin is typically entire, presenting a smooth edge.

Leaf Color: The leaves are green, and there's usually no significant color difference between the top and underside.

Flower Structure: The flowers are small and crown-shaped, arranged in large, branched clusters (inflorescences) called panicles. The individual flowers have a diameter of about 0.25 inches.

Flower Color: The flowers are creamy white or light yellow.

Fruit: The fruit is a black, fleshy drupe, about 0.5 inches in diameter, and is produced in clusters.

Seed: The seeds are hard, brown-black, and usually solitary within each drupe.

Stem: The stems are short and subterranean (underground), giving rise to the fan-shaped leaves. 

Hairs: The plant is generally glabrous, meaning it lacks noticeable hairs on its leaves and stems.

Height: Sabal minor typically reaches a height of 4 to 8 feet, with the fan-shaped leaves spreading wide, creating a distinctive appearance.

Dwarf palmetto plant.


Stand of Dwarf Palmettos.


Dwarf palmetto flowering in July in the Houston area.


Close-up view of the dwarf palmetto flowers.


Still closer view of the flowers.


Fruit (edible when flat black in color).




Underground portion of root system exposed along river bank.


Root section dug up and peeled to reach terminal bud and heart.


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.


Dwarf palmettos are good sources of calories all year. The easiest way to get the "heart" of this palm is to dig up, root ball and all, then peel/cut away the fronds. Eventually you'll reach an inner section that looks like the inner portions of celery or an artichoke heart. Cut away the roots and anything still stiff or hard. Anything soft is edible. It has a somewhat bitter, unusual taste raw. Roasting it makes it a little sweeter.

The berries begin appearing in late summer and are usually edible into mid-fall in the fall. They are very nutritious and supposedly are good for the prostrate. A word of warning though. These berries taste really good to about 85% of the population. 15% of humans have an extra taste receptor that can sense a particular chemical in these berries that the other 85% can't. I have those extra taste sensors and to me the fruit tastes the way cat vomit smells. Most likely they'll taste good to you.

The berries have a larger kernel from which palm oil can be pressed. You can find ready-made nut oil presses on line as well as directions on how to make your own oil press out of some pieces of pipe and an auger bit.

Dwarf palmettos grow in low, wet, shady areas. If you are looking to buy property and dwarf palmettos are present you can be pretty sure that area floods often!


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.