My new favorite plant, rattlesnake master, Eryngium yuccafolium, has the specific name yuccafolium as its linear leaves have small spines and also parallel venation (don’t ask me why but that’s the correct word if talking about the arrangement of veins in a plant). Anyhow, most dicots have branching veins but this is an exception. By collecting these tough long fibrous veins, indigenous people could weave them to make moccasins and baskets, a better use than relying on the sap or root concoctions to treat snake bites. A member of the carrot family, the root is a large storage organ, but I can’t find any references to its having been eaten by people. Some lepidoptera larva use a stem for their larval food supply, this is the sole food for the highly endangered rattlesnake master stem moth.
"My new favorite plant..."
