Yucca species   Liliaceae (Lily Family)   Mexico   Yucca

                                           July Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Trunk short or rising to 3 or 4 ft.; lvs. +/- 1 m. long, 4.5 cm. wide, entire, dull dark green above, lighter below, slightly incurved, widest at middle and tapering each way, the outer 10.cm. of lf. involute, ultimately forming a short, stiff, green spine, inner half tapered to 1.5 cm. near base then abruptly widening to 3.0 cm. where it joins base of plant; fls. many, other characteristics of the bloom unknown as I have seen only the dead flower stalk.

Habitat:  Escape from cultivation.  Blooms summer to autumn.

Name:  Yuc-ca, modification of an aboriginal name, applied to another plant.  (Bailey 240).

General:  Rare in the study area.  Found only once and this at the foot of the bluffs at North Star Beach.  The plants when first found in 1986 were in the morning sun, however, through the years the trees in the area, watered by the storm drain that comes down the bluff, have covered the plants and they are in perpetual shade.  The plants have multiplied but only bloomed once that I am aware of and I failed to see the bloom, only the dead stalk.  (my comments).        The bud of the yucca was eaten along with the fls. and peeled fruit.  The stalks are edible to some extent.  The seeds can be ground to flour and the root is good for soap.  (Lecture by Charlotte Clarke, Author of Edible and Useful Plants of California, April 1987).      Many kinds of yucca were used for washing clothes and wool and especially for shampoo in some Indian wedding ceremonies.  Great bowls of yucca suds were prepared and the bride and groom washed each others heads.  Notably Y. glauca and Y. baccata were used for this. (Murphey 57).    The Cahuilla, Indians of the Colorado Desert, the San Jacinto and San Bernardino Mountains used Yucca schidigera as a source of fibre for coiled-rope soles of sandals.  Normally southern California Indians used no foot covering at all, reserving the use of sandals for special purposes.  (Campbell 223, 224).    About 30 bayonet-lvd. showy-fld. species, of tablelands of Mex. and northward, also somewhat in W. Indies and E. U.S.  (Bailey 240).  The family Agavaceae is included within Liliaceae in the 1993 Jepson Manual.  (Hickman, Ed. 1170).    Comparison of the DNA sequences for various genes, usually those found in the chloroplast of the plant cell has led biologists to propose many changes in the plant families as they are now known.  It is proposed to move the genus Agave from Liliaceae back to Agavaceae.  (Kelch, Dean G. “Consider the Lilies” FREMONTIA, A Journal of the California Native Plant Society Vol. 30 No. 2 April 2002 pp. 23-29).

Text Ref:  Bailey 241.

Photo Ref:  July 1 86 # 10

Identity: by R. De Ruff.  

First Found:  July 1986.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 343

Plant Specimen:  Have leaf tip only.

Last edit 5/28/04.

                                           February Photo