Botanical atlas

Spiny Greasebush

Forsellesia spinescens

Spiny greasebush is not a plant that shows up in the herbal medicine chests of the Southwest, and no well documented tradition of medicinal or culinary use has survived to us. Its real story is an ecological one: this tough, tangled little shrub has long held together the thin, rocky soils of the high desert, offering shelter and late-winter browse to mule deer and bighorn sheep when little else on the mesa is green. Botanists have also passed it back and forth between plant families for over a century, a small reminder that even a humble, thorny shrub can hold scientific mysteries. It is best appreciated today as a hardy native for a xeriscape garden or a plant to recognize quietly on a desert hike, rather than one to gather for the kitchen or the medicine cabinet.

Safety.

Spiny greasebush has no history of food or medicinal use and should not be ingested. Its spine-tipped branches can scratch or puncture skin, so handle it with care.