Pholisma sonorae

 Pholisma sonorae (sand food) ( )

Boraginaceae

• One of the most unusual dune plants of the lower desert is sand food, a bizarre root parasite that erupts with a head of scale-like leaves and flowers from the sand. Most of the tissues of this strange plant lies in a succulent stem that extend as much as 3-6 feet below the sand surface where it attaches to roots of nearby host plants. The common name comes from the fact that the fleshy tissue is eaten raw or roasted by Native American tribes including the Sand Papagos and Cocopas. The flavor o the stems is described as slightly sweet, with the texture of a crisp radish. Because of its limited range in the lower Sonoran Desert and specific habitat requirements it has a CNPS Rare Plant Tank 1B: rare, threatened, or endangered in California and elsewhere. "Califoria Desert Plants, Philip W Rundel, Robert J Gustafson, Michael E Kauffmann."