Plants provided food and medicine, too. For example, oak bark contains tannic acid which is astringent and antiseptic- or in other words, is an agent that kills germs and cleans wounds.

Don’t forget plants were important for making things like cords for stringing bows. Since they didn’t use nails or duct tape to hold things together, they used the fibers from tree bark and plants twisted together to provide strength to lash things together. For example to hold the poles and branches together for making shelters, they might use rope made from the twisted fibers of cedar bark. They also might use leather for lashing or sinew.

When the Lipan were exiled to the reservations and sedentary life, they had to be taught how to grow gardens and crops, because they had always relied on foraging for food. They had such an extensive knowledge of wild plants, they could easily find a feast, even in the barren deserts.

For example, many cacti are nutritious and tasty.
Did you ever eat chopped up green nopalitos in a Mexican food breakfast?
That’s the prickly pear (opuntia). You can eat the flat green cactus pad (once you remove the thorns!) and the red fruit is very sweet.