The lechuguilla, like its relative, the century plant, requires 12–15 years to store up enough food for the production of the large flower stalk, which then grows amazingly fast up to 15 feet tall. Thick, leathery leaves are tipped with a strong spine and have hooked teeth along the margins. Its succulent, yellow-green rosettes are 1-2 feet tall and widely suckering. Lechuguilla is one of the most widespread of the agaves and is the signature plant of the Chihuahuan Desert. Local native peoples ate the fruit raw, stewed or dried and ground into flour. The thorns can be used for sewing needles or to make improvised fish hooks. The name "cane cholla" derives from the fact that canes, furniture and other souvenirs are often made from the attractive woody skeleton of dead plants of this species. The fruits are yellowish and shaped something like a cone, with a hollow at the wide end where the flower fell off they are often mistaken for flowers. This species blooms in late spring or early summer. It is often conspicuous because of its shrubby or even tree-like size, its silhouette, and its long-lasting yellowish fruits. The spines are very finely barbed and difficult to remove from flesh. It is a tree-like cactus growing to 8 feet tall with spiny, cylindrical, fleshy stems, which when dead show a latticed woody skeleton. The cane cholla, often called tree cholla, is the most common species of cholla in New Mexico.
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