Curtis Botanical – Plate 5030 – Desert Spoon / Green Desert Spoon / Sotol

Original antique black-and-white print from Curtis's Botanical Magazine — Plate 5030.

An extraordinary plant of the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts whose common name comes from the spoon-shaped base of each leaf — Indigenous peoples used these 'desert spoons' as tools and the plant as a food source for thousands of years. The fermented sap produces sotol, a traditional Mexican spirit from the same region as mezcal and tequila.

Texas, Arizona, New Mexico — a Southwest landscape and garden staple.

Uncolored plate. Condition consistent with age of volume. Each print is a unique piece of botanical history, printed on paper aged over a century.

This is an original uncolored (plain) plate from leftover publisher stock of Curtis's Botanical Magazine, printed in London. It was issued uncolored and never bound. We bought the holding at the estate of a Chicago rare bookseller. Labels and stock papers from the British dealer Wheldon & Wesley came with it. Library stamps, when present, are noted on the listing.