The Desert Spoon is a very dependable plant for the arid environment of the Southwest. This plant was used by the natives of the region for food and fiber. The leaf blade of the desert spoon is slender, toothed gray-green. The leaves radiate from the center of the plant in all directions. Growth is a moderate five to eight feet, and the leaves spread equally. Some plants develop a bloom is topped by a long plume of straw-colored flowers that look like grain.

The Desert Spoon can be planted any season but summer and pruned in October.