The spongy interior of the trunks and leaf bases are rich in sugars and have been found to be an excellent food, especially in times of need. The plants were formerly much used for food by the natives of the arid regions and are still so used to some extent[411 ]. The leaves are trimmed off the plant, and the remaining head is roasted or boiled. The sweet pith and the leaf bases can then be eaten[411 ]. The heads were traditionally baked for about 24 hours in pits dug in the ground[411 ]. Once roasted, the trunks can be fermented and distilled to obtain a highly esteemed intoxicating drink known as ‘sotol’, a potent, colourless beverage of penetrating odour and peculiar taste[411, 1438 ]. The alcohol has been extracted from sotol plants on a commercial scale[411 ]. Green sotol (Dasylirion leiophyllum), a spiny-leaved perennial of the Asparagus family, grows primarily in southern New Mexico and western Texas. Like other sotols, its sap, caudices (hearts or crowns), and flower stalks are edible. The caudices can be harvested year-round, making them a reliable resource even in winter when other wild foods are scarce. Flower stalks emerge in spring to early summer (May–July), or later if rainfall is sufficient, and must be collected before they become woody. When harvested at the right stage, the stalks are stringy but sweet, with a flavor often compared to “sweet asparagus,” sometimes with a mild soapy accent. Cooking enhances both the taste and tenderness, though stringy fibers remain. The sap can be tapped from stalks, and the caudices roasted or cooked much like those of agave, producing a starchy, sweet food source. While common sotol (D. wheeleri) is more thoroughly documented—its flowers being sweet, complex, and highly valued in traditional desert cooking—green sotol can be used in a similar way, especially for its stalks and caudices. Historically, sotols were an important wild food for desert peoples of the American Southwest [2-3].

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None known

The tough leaves contain a fibre suitable for making rough cordage. This fibre also seems to be suitable for the manufacture of paper[411, 1438 ]. The leaves are often used in weaving, making baskets, rough hats, mats, handicrafts, etc.[411, 1438 ]. The leaves are also much used for thatching[411 ]. When one of the plants, covered with 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. When removed from the trunk, the leaf bases remaining on such burned plants make very satisfactory beds upon camping expeditions, for they are elastic and not uncomfortably hard[411 ]. The trunks are used frequently in constructing traditional houses[411 ]. The trunks are used for fuel[411 ].

Special Uses