Yucca schidigera

Yucca schidigera Mojave yucca
Flowering plant, Palm Canyon, California
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
clade:	Angiosperms
clade:	Monocots
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Asparagaceae
Subfamily:	Agavoideae
Genus:	Yucca
Species:	Y. schidigera
Binomial name
Yucca schidigera Roezl ex Ortgies

Yucca schidigera, also known as the Mojave yucca or Spanish Dagger, is a flowering plant that is native to the Mojave Desert and Sonoran Desert of southeastern California, Baja California, southern Nevada and western Arizona.

This yucca typically grows on rocky desert slopes and Creosote desert flats between 300–1,200 metres (980–3,900 ft) altitude, rarely up to 2,500 metres (8,200 ft). They thrive in full sun and in soil with excellent drainage. It also needs no summer water. It is related to the Banana yucca (Yucca baccata), which occurs in the same general area; hybrids between the two are sometimes found.

Description

Yucca schidigera is a small evergreen tree growing to 5 metres (16 ft) tall, with a dense crown of spirally arranged bayonet-like leaves on top of a conspicuous basal trunk. The bark is gray-brown, being covered with brown dead leaves near the top, becoming irregularly rough and scaly-to-ridged closer to the ground. The leaves are 30-150 cm long and 4-11 cm broad at the base, concavo-convex, thick, very rigid, and yellow-green to blue-green in color.

The flowers are white, sometimes having a purple tinge, bell-shaped, 3-5 cm long (rarely to 7.5 cm), produced in a compact, bulbous cluster 60-120 cm tall at the top of the stem. The fruit is fleshy and green, maturing into a leathery, dark brown six-celled capsule 5-11.5 cm long and 3-4 cm broad in late summer.

Uses

The fibers of the Yucca schidigera leaves were used by Native Americans to make rope, sandals, and cloth. The flowers and fruit could be eaten and the black seeds were ground into a flour. The roots were used to make soap.

Some reports claim that Native Americans washed their hair with yucca to fight dandruff and hair loss. Among the other maladies this yucca has been used to treat are headaches, bleeding, gonorrhea, arthritis and rheumatism.

Currently extracts from this plant are in animal feed and various herbal medications. The rigid stalk of the yucca, after maturation, is used as a substitute for eucalyptus to make didgeridoos. It is also used as a natural deodorizer, and is used in pet deodorizers. Steroid saponins are produced commercially from Yucca schidigera.

References

• Fritz Hochstätter (ed.): Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 1 Dehiscent-fruited species in the Southwest and Midwest of the USA, Canada and Baja California , Selbst Verlag, 2000. ISBN 3-00-005946-6
• Fritz Hochstätter (ed.): Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 2 Indehiscent-fruited species in the Southwest, Midwest and East of the USA, Selbst Verlag. 2002. ISBN 3-00-009008-8
• Fritz Hochstätter (ed.): Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 3 Mexico , Selbst Verlag, 2004. ISBN 3-00-013124-8
• Foster, S.; Duke, J. A. (1990). A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants: Eastern and Central North America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0395467225. 
• Francis, George; Kerem, Zohar; Makkar, Harinder P. S.; Becker, Klaus (2002). "The biological action of saponins in animal systems: a review". British Journal of Nutrition 88 (6): 587–605. doi:10.1079/BJN2002725. PMID 12493081. 

External links

• Flora of North America: Yucca schidigera
• Jepson Flora Project: Yucca schidigera
• Desert USA entry for Mojave Yucca
• Common names of yucca species
• Yucca I Verbreitungskarte I Fritz Hochstätter | Yucca schidigera photos
• Photos of Yucca schidigera by Keir Morse
• Cnr.vt.edu: Mojave yucca, with several photos of plant and fruit
• Additional info on the Mojave Yucca