The huauzontle is a plant in the form of a small elongated tree, with a thick stem and branches, and a small ball-shaped flower. Huauzontle comes from the Nahuatl huauhtzontli, where huauhtli is bledo, and tzontli, hair: hair or weed of the bledo.

It has a high nutritional value, since it contains vitamins A, B, B1, B2, B3, C, E, as well as minerals, iron, phosphorus and calcium, even in quantities similar to milk, but it is less and less consumed.