Lechuguilla (Agave lechuguilla) - Meaning "little lettuce" in Spanish, lechuguilla is also commonly referred to as a "shin dagger" because these stout leaves can puncture a hiker's shin or even a tire! Each of the four deserts of North America contain distinctive plants, called indicator plants, that grow exclusively in that desert environment. Lechuguilla is the "indicator plant" for the Chihuahuan Desert, as it grows in this region and nowhere else. Like its other relatives in the agave family (commonly known as century plants), the lechuguilla blooms only once and then dies. This plant lives between 3 to 20 years, storing up energy to produce its tall bloom stalk. While it can produce seeds, lechuguilla reproduces mainly from offshoots from the parent plant before it flowers. Did you know that the leaf of lechuguilla is composed of fibrous strands that are used to make rope, and the processing of this fiber was one of the early industries here in the Big Bend?