I'm just gonna throw everything that comes to mind at ya.
First, Amoreuxia spp., also called Saya or Mexican Yellowshow - this is one of my favorites, but it only works if your temps get hot enough AND you get a summer monsoon, so if you aren't in a desert that gets that (like the sonoran desert where these originate from), then this might not work for you. But...it is a small plant, maybe 2-3 feet wide, herbaceous, completely dies down after the summer and pops up when the temps get up to high 90's/low 100's and there is some water. The flowers, the leaves, the seeds, and the tuber it grows from are all edible, not bitter, and have no thorns. The leaves, flowers, and immature seeds can even be eaten raw.
Next: Achillea millefolium, yarrow - leaves can be eaten as a culinary herb.
Agastache spp., horsemint - make tea from the leaves. Smells like a mild mint.
Tagetes lucida, mexican tarragon - culinary herb
Sambucus mexicana, mexican elderberry - edible,
medicinal
Proboscidea spp., Devil's claw - can eat the young pods like you would okra. The variety with yellow flowers are perennials, and the ones with pink flowers are annuals. If you let the pods mature, the seeds can be eaten, and the long black pods can be used in basketry.
Pinus edulis - pinyon pine - pine nuts. Produce pine nuts every 3 years. From what I'm reading, there is likely something in the soil - unknown what, yet- that is important for their growth. Was reading of a couple experiments and the pinyons kept dying around year three. What seemed to help is soil from another established pinyon that is put in the ground around the tree (so might be something fungal) and also, if there were any artemesia planted near them, that seemed to help as well. I have not seen any understanding as to why this seems to help, but my pinyon tree did well doing the soil and artemesia both (until javalinas ate it to the ground, grrr).
Parkinsonia florida, Blue palo verde (or little leaf palo verde if you get less water) - flowers are edible, immature beans are edible. Mature beans are edible as well but they have a harder skin and you have to treat them like fava beans and get the skin off.
There are a number of desert adapted passionflowers, including one that is native to arizona - as I understand it, the passionflower species are either good eating, or good medicine, but not both at the same time. The arizona version is so-so eating and so-so medicinal, according to a local herbalist I know.
Marsdenia edulis, talayote (I have seen many plants called talayote, so you really have to check the scientific name on this one. immature fruits can be cooked and eaten.
Lycium spp, wolfberry - this one is spiny, but the berries are lovely. If you are familiar with goji berries, they are a type of wolfberry (not the same, but taste is similar, I hear). Paleleaf wolfberry has the biggest berries, but the baja wolfberry grows a lot faster. They can get quite big so have something behind them to support, like a
fence or wall or large tree, can be helpful.
Ironwood has edible beans, if your area is warm enough. They taste very similar to edamame, when cooked.
Diospyros texana, Texas persimmon - big edible purple berries. Can make a dye out of them. The taste has no tartness at all, kind of like bananas don't, you know? like...if you took a date, gave it the texture of a large blueberry, and made it a bit less sweet - that's what texas persimmons taste like to me.
And that's all that is coming to me off the top of my head. Hope it might help!
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