Sotol and yucca (on right) growing on the canyon rim near Hinds Cave. Sotol usually blooms in the spring, but in dry years it waits for rain and blooms when it can. Sotol (Dasylirion)was a very useful resource. Its strong leaves were trimmed of their thorns (or not) and used to weave mats or separated into fibers for making cord and sandal straps. Its dried stalk was used as a lightweight wood and as fuel. And its leaf base or heart was baked and eaten, especially during the Late Archaic period at Hinds Cave. Yucca was valued mainly as a source of tough fibers that come with a built-in needle (the thorn tip). TAMU Anthropology archives.