All plants /Shrub /Lotebush
Lotebush
Ziziphus obtusifolia, buckthorn family. Common in West Texas.
At a glance
- What
- Small blue-black fruit
- How
- Raw
- When
- Summer
- Where
- Dry South and West Texas
- Value
- Sugars
Caution: Edible in small amounts when ripe; a spiny, tangled shrub to reach into carefully. Never eat a wild plant on this guide's word alone. Confirm identity against several sources and learn the look-alikes first.
Identification
A gray, zig-zagging thorny shrub of dry ground, a wild relative of the jujube, with thin sweet fruit around a large stone.
On the trail
More survival food than delicacy, but a real one where little else grows.
Photo: Stan Shebs, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Forages well with
Forage safely. Never eat a wild plant on this site's word alone. Confirm identity with several sources, learn the look-alikes, and when in doubt, leave it in the ground.