Glycyrrhiza lepidota be sweet and were used as food and for medicinal purposes by Native Americans. After eating a roasted root in 1806, Meriwether Lewis described an "agreeable flavour not unlike the sweet pittaitoe." American licorice is not sweet from sugar but from glycyrrhizin. Glycyrrhizin may increase blood pressure (aka hypertension) by interfering with cortisol conversion. The Zuni people chew the root to keep the mouth sweet and moist. American licorice is grazed by cattle, but not preferred and will increase under grazing as competing plants are grazed off. The new growth can be toxic. It has light green to white flowers
Balanites glabra on stony or sandy soils, or on lava. It can persist in degraded plant communities often occurring alongside "Opuntia". The wood of "Balanites glabra" is used for carvings. The leaves are used as fodder while the spiny branches make it suitable for use as fencing, either as a live or dead fence. Despite being mildly poisonous the fruits are eaten. Balanites glabra Balanites glabra is a species of tree or shrub, classified either as a member of the Zygophyllaceae or the Balanitaceae. This tree is native to East Africa. "Balanites glabra" is a spiny shrub or tree growing to a