USEFUL WILD PLANTS 



for the berries, which, under the names of Shallon 

 and Shewel, seem to have been a staple of diet with 

 them. Though thick of skin they are well flavored. 

 Paradoxical enough, it is the desert that grows 

 some of our most important and most juicy wild 

 fruits. Among these the plump pods of species of 

 Yucca or Spanish Dagger, abundant throughout the 

 arid regions of the Southwest, are of recognized 

 worth. One of the most widely distributed is Yucca 

 haccata, Torr., called by the Mexican population 

 Palmilla anclia or Ddtil — the former name mean- 

 ing "broad-leaved little date-palm," and the latter, 

 "the date fruit." The fruit is succulent, plump, 

 and in shape like a short banana, and is borne in 

 large, upright clusters, seedy but nutritious. The 

 taste is agreeably sweet when fully developed, which 

 is in the autumn if birds and bugs spare the pods 

 so long. Indians have always regarded the Ddtil 

 as a luxury. As I write there comes visibly to mind 

 a chilly, mid- August morning in the Arizona plateau 

 country, when two Navajo shepherdesses left their 

 straggling flock to share in the warmth of our camp 

 fire and pass the time of day. As they squatted by the 

 flame, I noticed that one slipped some objects from 

 her blanket into the hot ashes, but with such deft 



104 



