Eagle’s claw
Rainbow cactus
Coarse strong fibers of the lechuguilla plant (top) were extracted by machine (bottom) for use in matting, ropes, bags, and household items.
The candelilla or wax plant (middle) has been used in manufacturing waxes, polishes, chewing gum, phonograph records, and candles. In the rainy season the stem fills with milky sap. In the dry season this sap coats the stem as wax by evaporation. The wax protects the plant from drought.
One of the most interesting plants in the Chihuahuan Desert is a sturdy bunch of blades called lechuguilla. This fiercely spined agave lives nowhere else in the world. When Cabeza de Vaca crossed Big Bend in 1535, the lechuguilla grew so thick that he didn’t dare walk at night. Today you find it growing singly or in colonies from the shrub desert clear up into the Chisos woodlands, its needle points still menacing hikers, horses, and deer.