Comandra pallida

A.DC.

Pale Bastard Toadflax

Santalaceae Edible: Fruit, Seed Potential hazards — see below

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Arizona State University Vascular Plant Herbarium (ASU-Plants)

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Desert Botanical Garden Herbarium (DES-)

Description

Comandra pallida is a PERENNIAL growing to 0.4 m (1ft 4in) by 0.2 m (0ft 8in). See above for USDA hardiness. It is hardy to UK zone 4. It is in flower from May to June. The species is hermaphrodite (has both male and female organs). Suitable for: light (sandy), medium (loamy) and heavy (clay) soils and prefers well-drained soil. Suitable pH: mildly acid soils and can grow in very acid soils. It cannot grow in the shade. It prefers moist soil.

Edible Uses

Edible fruits and seeds, but fruits are usually poor eating, and seeds—while excellent—carry a real safety question due to selenium accumulation that varies by site. Treat as a rare-use food, avoid diseased plants, and do not consume regularly or in large quantities. Edible Uses & Rating: The fruits and seeds are edible in the basic sense, and flower nectar has been recorded as a sweet treat in some Indigenous use contexts. In practical foraging terms, the fruits rate low: thin-fleshed, often bitter, and commonly compromised by fungi. The seed rate is high for eating quality, but the overall food rating is moderated by safety uncertainty due to the potential for selenium accumulation and the variability of selenium levels across soil and sites. This is best treated as an occasional food, not a dependable daily edible. Taste, Processing & Kitchen Notes: Flowers are bland and vegetal rather than floral, with little sweetness and only mild bitterness that cooking can reduce. They do not strongly signal “food value,” and they are commonly attacked by insects and disease, making them an unappealing harvest target. Fruits tend to be “all seed and little flesh.” The flesh can be thin, leathery, wrinkled, and notably astringent or bitter, sometimes approaching the mouth-drying effect people associate with acorns. Even fully colored fruits may never taste “ripe” in the sweet-fruit sense. Cooking does not reliably fix the bitterness, which is why many foragers end up focusing on the seed rather than the fruit pulp. Seeds are the standout. When extracted from the hard shell, they can be pearl-white, oily, and pleasantly nut-like, with roasting often intensifying the appeal. Ground seed meal can behave like a rich nut flour in cooking. The main practical barrier is shell removal: cracking and picking is slow but straightforward; pounding and using water to separate heavier shell fragments from lighter seed meal can be effective when done carefully. The big caveat remains selenium—excellent taste does not guarantee safe frequency. Seasonality (Phenology): Flowering typically runs from spring into summer, often from April to August, depending on elevation and conditions. Fruits and seeds mature later, generally from late summer into late autumn. In many places, fruit availability can be surprisingly inconsistent: plants may be common while mature fruits are scarce, or fruits may drop or disappear quickly. If you are targeting seeds, timing matters, as missed windows often result in empty stalks or fruit lost to decay and dispersal. Safety & Cautions (Food Use): This is a caution plant. Pale bastard toadflax is known to absorb selenium, and selenium levels vary by soil and site. The safe margin is narrow: small amounts of selenium are essential, but chronic high intake can cause selenosis with symptoms that may begin with gastrointestinal upset and progress to more serious systemic effects. Because many selenium forms in plants are water-soluble, boiling and discarding the water can reduce exposure for plant tissues, but this does not magically make the plant “safe in unlimited quantity,” especially for seeds, which are exactly the part people may be tempted to eat more of because they taste so good. Avoid diseased plants, avoid repeated use from the same unknown site, and avoid making this a regular food. When in doubt, treat it as an occasional curiosity rather than a pantry staple. Harvest & Processing Workflow: Locate colonies during the flowering season, then revisit from late summer into autumn when fruits may mature. Harvest only clean-looking clusters and avoid plants showing vivid disease discoloration. If you try fruits, expect low payoff and likely bitterness; many foragers will skip straight to seed recovery. For seeds, either crack the shells by hand and pick out the kernels, or pound the fruits/seeds and use water separation so heavier shell fragments settle while the seed meal remains above, then pour off the usable fraction. If you choose to roast, do so gently to deepen flavor. Keep servings small and infrequent due to selenium uncertainty, and avoid building habits around this seed, even if you find it exceptionally tasty. Cultivar/Selection Notes: No cultivars are in common use for this plant. Practical “selection” in the field is really site selection: patches in selenium-poor soils are inherently safer than patches in selenium-rich soils, but without testing you cannot reliably know which is which. Visual plant vigor is helpful for avoiding diseased material, but it does not guarantee low selenium. Look-Alikes & Confusion Risks: Within its range, Comandra umbellata is fairly distinctive once you learn the overall look: dusty alternate leaves, small clustered bell-like flowers without true petals, and small crowned drupes. The bigger “confusion risk” is not a dangerous look-alike as much as a mistaken assumption that “edible” equals “safe as a regular food.” Selenium-accumulating behavior makes this plant a special case where site chemistry can matter as much as identification. Traditional / Indigenous Use Summary: Ethnobotanical records indicate the use of nectar as a sweet in at least one regional tradition, and seeds have been reported as a food by multiple groups in different areas. The presence of staple-like use in some records suggests that, in certain regions or conditions, the seeds were sufficiently abundant and acceptable to justify effort. At the same time, the scarcity of widespread “staple” framing in many accounts, plus the selenium issue, supports a modern foraging approach that emphasizes caution, moderation, and site awareness. Fruit. A sweet flavour. The fruit is about 10mm in diameter. The small round seeds are eaten like nuts by children.

Medicinal Uses

Foot care Narcotic Ophthalmic Salve. The plant is narcotic. A decoction has been used in the treatment of headaches and externally as a foot bath to treat corns. The plant has been used to treat sore eyes and sores on the body and also as a mouth wash for canker sores.

Known Hazards

There is a report that the plant can be toxic to mammals.

Distribution

Western N. America - Manitoba to British Columbia and south to Texas.

Where It Grows

NORTHERN AMERICA: Canada (Manitoba, British Columbia), United States (Minnesota, Colorado, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming, New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, Nevada)

Cultivation

Pale bastard toadflax is a classic example of a plant that can be both impressive and problematic. The seed can be genuinely outstanding as a wild food in taste and richness, yet the plant’s selenium-accumulating tendencies and frequent disease issues mean it should be approached as an occasional, carefully considered harvest rather than a reliable everyday edible. Growing Conditions: This species tolerates a wide range of elevations and dry-to-mixed habitats, partly because semi-parasitism lets it “borrow” resources from neighbors. It often forms colonies in open, dry settings, but you may also see it where shrubs and grasses provide host opportunities. Soil chemistry is the critical wild-card: in selenium-rich soils, this plant can accumulate selenium to potentially problematic levels, which is the central reason it should not be treated as a routine edible. Habitat & Range: The Comandra umbellata complex is broadly distributed in North America, with ssp. pallida commonly referenced as the dominant southwestern form. It can occupy many habitat types across elevation gradients, often appearing in dry plant communities where it spreads into patches. Because it can form colonies, you may encounter it as a scattered plant one day and as a carpeted patch another day, depending on underground spread and site history. Size & Landscape Performance: Aboveground plants are modest in height, but colonies can cover meaningful ground. The plant’s “performance” is less about height and more about persistence: it can hold its place in dry systems and return year after year, especially where host plants are present. For foragers, this means revisitable patches are possible, but fruiting may still vary widely between seasons. Cultivation (Horticulture): This is not commonly cultivated as an edible, largely because its best edible part (the seed) raises concerns about selenium levels, and because semi-parasitic plants can be tricky to establish without appropriate hosts. It may appear in restoration or native plant settings, but it is not generally a garden crop. If someone did attempt cultivation, careful attention to soil selenium and host-plant relationships would be essential. Pests & Problems: Two recurring problems matter for foragers. Rust fungus and other diseases can cause severe discoloration and general plant decline, and unhealthy plants are a poor choice for harvest regardless of edibility. Fruits are also frequently affected by fungi and may drop or degrade before you ever see “nice” ripe clusters. Insects can infest flowers and fruiting structures, adding another reason to be selective and to process carefully. Pollination: Flowers are arranged in terminal clusters and are visited by insects that can navigate small, tubular floral structures. Pollination supports later drupe formation, but fruit set and fruit persistence can still vary widely, with many fruits dropping or succumbing to fungi before they become useful to a forager. Identification & Habit: Pale bastard toadflax is a low, often colony-forming plant in dry to mixed habitats across a wide elevation range. It is semi-parasitic, meaning it can photosynthesize but also taps into nearby plants via underground connections, which helps explain its ability to persist in lean sites and spread into patches. Leaves are alternate, sessile to short-stalked, and often look dusty or pale, with entire margins and a simple, streamlined shape ranging from linear to lanceolate or elliptic. The flowers are small and bell-shaped, arranged in terminal clusters; they lack true petals and instead present sepals on the rim of a tube-like structure. Later, the plant produces small, globe-shaped drupes about 7–9 mm across, often with a distinct crown at the top. Fruit color is variable as it matures and can show mixed tones on sun-exposed sides. Requires a well-drained moisture retentive lime-free soil. A parasitic plant obtaining at least some of its nutrients from the roots of other plants. It is said to parasitize over 200 different species of plants in the wild.

Propagation

Seed - stratify for 3 months at 5°c and then sow in the greenhouse in a pot with a suitable host. Plant out when it is well established close to a mature host plant.

Other Uses

DyeA blue dye is obtained from the area next to the root bark. As a flowering plant, it provides nectar and may support small pollinators, and its fruits can be taken by wildlife when available. The semi-parasitic habit can influence local plant interactions by tapping into neighbors, and the colony-forming nature creates small patches that may alter microhabitats for insects and ground-level species. In selenium-rich landscapes, selenium accumulation also becomes part of the ecological story, affecting how different organisms interact with the plant.