When I first moved to Agua Dulce, I saw a bush that was unfamiliar to me – like all of the chaparral and other vegetation in the high desert. I didn’t think any more about it until winter began to fade and spring bounded forward, producing these weird, pod-like things on those same shrubs.

Then I began noticing them all over our community. My first thought was a huge flashback to the 1956 film, “The Body Snatchers,” which was filmed in Sierra Madre. Thank goodness it was just a movie. I think.

My curiosity got the better of me, and I researched this unusual-looking shrub. I discovered an interesting product of Mother Nature called the bladderpod, aka spiderflower, bladderbush or burro-fat.

The bladderpod plant is a member of the caper family and is native to California. It can grow from 2 to 7 feet. The bush produces yellow flowers in the spring that are said to be edible. The pods produced are inflated capsules that can contain 5 to 25 seeds each. The seeds can be dark brown, brown or light beige in color and are (again, said to be) edible.

Seeds from the pod are egg-shaped and solid. American Indians that who in the Santa Clarita area (Tataviam, Chumash) would gather these pods and cook them just like peas. They were also used as trade with other tribes. These pods have been used by the Kawaiisu, a Native American group that lives in the Tehachapi Valley, in the southern Sierra Nevada Mountains to the north, toward Lake Isabella and Walker Pass. The Kumeyaay (Diegueno) Indians of the extreme southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico used the seeds and flowers for food.

This drought-tolerant plant ranges from Southern California and Baja California to Arizona, from 200 to 4,000 feet in elevation. In California, it can be found north to Fresno and Monterey counties, Bakersfield, and Tehachapi.

Research tells me that although the seeds from this plant are considered edible, there are no guarantees. So as usual, please do not consume “supposedly” edible native plants until you have fully researched the results.

As always, keep your eyes open for the unusual. You never know what you might find out there.

Mari Carbajal is a docent-naturalist at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center.