Dasylirion texanum hybridizes with Dasylirion leiophyllum where their ranges overlap[].

Common Name:

General Information

Dasylirion texanum is an evergreen, succulent perennial plant producing a short trunk up to 50cm long upon which there is a rosette of narrow, arching leaves that can each be around 70 - 130cm long and 10 - 20mm wide. The plant usually flowers annually, producing a flowering stem that can be around 2 - 4 metres long.
The various Dasylirion species were once a major source of food and materials for people in the arid and semi-arid regions of southwestern N. America from Arizona to Texas and south to central Mexico. The stemsprovide a starch-rich food that can also be fermented into a potent alcoholic beverage, whilst the leaves and stems providematerials for thatch, weaving, basketry and construction[, ]. It is harvested from the wild for local use as a food and source of materials.

Known Hazards

None known

Botanical References

,

Range

Southern N. America - Texas, northeastern Mexico (Coahuila).

Habitat

Rocky and gravelly desert areas[]. Open, rocky limestone slopes, arroyos and canyons, dry limestone hills ;at elevations from 600 - 1,800 metres[].

Properties

Edibility Rating
Other Uses Rating
Habit	Evergreen Shrub
Height	1.00 m
Pollinators	Bees, Insects
Cultivation Status	Wild

Cultivation Details

Requires a very well-drained soil in a sheltered sunny position[].

A dioecious species,both male and female forms need to be grown if fruit and seed are required[].

Edible Uses

The sugary pulp in the centre of the bud can be eaten[].
The bases of the leaves and the young stems are full of nutritious pulp which supplies, when cooked, a useful and palatable food[].

Dasylirion species were once a major food source in the desert southwest of N. America. The bulbs were roasted in rock-lined pits and pounded into cakes[].

A potent alcoholic beverage, known as sotol, is distilled from the baked and fermented bulbs[].

Medicinal

None known

Other Uses

The tough leaves contain a fibre suitable for making rough cordage. This fibre also seems to be suitable for the manufacture of paper[].
The leaves are often used in weaving, for making baskets, rough hats, mats, handicrafts etc.[, , ].
The leaves are also much used for thatching[].

When one of the plants, covered with the dead leaves, is set on fire it will burn for some time, and the burned stumps are a familiar sight in regions where the plants occur. The leaf bases remaining on such burned plants, when removed from the trunk, make very satisfactory beds upon camping expeditions, for they are elastic and not uncomfortably hard[].

Propagation

Seed - sow spring in a greenhouse. When they are large enough to handle, prick the seedlings out into individual pots and grow them on in the greenhouse for at least their first winter. Plant them out into their permanent positions in late spring or early summer, after the last expected frosts.