Yucca

Far out upon the plains the lone wolf skulked among the sage and cactus in search of the rabbit and antelope, or lay panting in the scanty shade of the yucca.

The Chihuahuan Desert is the largest ecosystem in the park. Eighty percent of the park is desert. Animals like jackrabbits, roadrunner birds and mule deer live in the Chihuahuan. Many cactus and yucca species thrive. These are succulent plants. Most succulents have thick, heavy leaves that store water. Cacti store water in their stems.

YUCCA: The Indian Yucca; vulgô. / The Characters are; / It hath the Appearance of an Aloe, the Leaves ending in a ſharp Point, but will grow in the Habit of a Tree; […] The Species are; / 1. Yucca; foliis Aloes. C. B. P. The common Yucca. / 2. Yucca; foliis filamentoſis. Moriſs. Yucca with Threads growing from the Leaves.[…]

On the mountains a few junipers and piñons are found, and cactuses, agave, and yuccas, low, fleshy plants with bayonets and thorns.

Yuccas are large, impressive plants with tough, leathery swordlike leaves and towering stalks of white cupshaped flowers. Although they are most abundant in the arid Southwest and on into Mexico, yuccas also grow in dry sandy spots throughout the East and Midwest. There are about forty species of yuccas. All have fibers in their leaves, and many serve as soap plants also[…].

The strange yet appealing yucca is native to the United States, Mexico and the West Indies and is part of the Agavaceae family, many species of which have tough, sword-like leaves.

Small, shrubby yuccas give your landscape a characteristic Southwest flavor. Their size adapts them to limited areas, such as patio and pool gardens or corner plantings. The blade-like leaves add variety to a cactus or xeriscape garden. Small yuccas make ideal accent plants, and when they send up their stalk of flowers, they become the center of attention.

Jucca, ſive Yucca Peruana. The root whereof the bread Caſua, or Cazava is made.

[A] second kind of bread is made of the root, called Yucca, which is bruised, and the juice, which is poisonous, expressed; it is then spread into broad thin cakes, and dried for use. In this shape it is called cassava, and though much esteemed by the natives, to a European palate (except perhaps a Scotch one) seems harsh, insipid, and little nutritious.

There are two kinds of the yucca, or manioc root,—the yucca dulce and the yucca amarga,—the sweet and bitter. One may be eaten raw without danger. The other, which closely resembles it, if eaten raw, would produce almost instant death, as its juice is one of the deadliest of vegetable poisons.