Some obviously useful, highly visible plants in Topanga:

• Agave Americana - great source of fibre for cordage, and the juice of the plant is sweet if you get it from a flower-stem that hasn’t blossomed. Not to be mistaken for the sap of the plant, which can sting.
• Fennel - grows like a weed in SoCal, but a good spice/herb/vegetable
• Hottentot Figs - grows all along the coastline in thick carpets. The fruits are like salty figs, if you can imagine such a thing. Leaves are edible, too. Not exactly gourmet eating, but useful.
• Mexican Elderberry - ripe berries (like all elders) are edible, but best cooked, as cooking removes toxins that can make you sick.
• Toyon - the berries used to be eaten by Native Americans. These looked too manky to try… but like the elderberries, should be cooked first to remove the toxic cyanide compounds.