Spiny Greasebush

Glossopetalon spinescens does not carry a documented history of herbal, medicinal, or culinary use, so this entry focuses on its true and considerable value: it is a tenacious little survivor of some of the harshest, rockiest ground in the American West. Botanists have long admired it as a relic of an ancient, small plant family with few living relatives, clinging to limestone cliffs and desert canyon walls where almost nothing else takes root. For desert bighorn sheep, mule deer, and other browsers, its evergreen, spine-guarded twigs are an important source of food in lean seasons, especially where forage is scarce. Its greatest traditional value has been ecological rather than medicinal, holding thin desert soils in place on slopes that would otherwise wash away.