''Yucca schidigera'', also known as the Mojave yucca or Spanish dagger, is a

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

native to the southwest deserts of North America.

Description

''Yucca schidigera'' is a small

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

growing to tall, with a dense crown of spirally arranged bayonet-like

leaves A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...

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 long and broad at the base, concavo-convex, thick, very rigid, and yellow-green to blue-green in color. The

flower A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...

s are white, sometimes with a purple tinge, long (rarely to 7.5 cm), bell-shaped and segmented into six parts; they are produced in a compact, bulbous cluster tall at the top of the stem. The fruit is an elongate berry, up to long.

Distribution and habitat

The plant is native to the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

Chihuahuan Desert The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lower P ...

and

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizona ...

of southeastern

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, southern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. This yucca typically grows on rocky desert slopes and

creosote Creosote is a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics. Some creosote types were ...

desert flats between altitude, rarely up to . They thrive in full sun and in

soil Soil, also commonly referred to as earth or dirt, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, liquids, and organisms that together support life. Some scientific definitions distinguish ''dirt'' from ''soil'' by restricting the former te ...

with excellent drainage. It also needs no summer water. It is related to the banana yucca (''Y. baccata''), which occurs in the same general area; hybrids between the two are sometimes found.

Fire ecology

Post fire, the Mojave yucca produces sprouts eagerly and the regeneration of the

seedling A seedling is a young sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle (embryonic root), the hypocotyl (embry ...

s are witnessed. The

fire regime A fire regime is the pattern, frequency, and intensity of the bushfires and wildfires that prevail in an area over long periods of time. It is an integral part of fire ecology, and renewal for certain types of ecosystems. A fire regime describes th ...

is defined predominantly by heavy crop vegetation that take part in carrying the fire in the

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syste ...

. Over time, the invasive species that have been introduced to the ecosystem, such as grasses, have turned more fire tolerant, increasing the fire frequency and altering the fire regime that existed in the past. Early accounts describe the flora of the Mojave Desert as arid

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses (Poaceae). However, sedge (Cyperaceae) and rush (Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur natur ...

and

shrubland Shrubland, scrubland, scrub, brush, or bush is a plant community characterized by vegetation dominated by shrubs, often also including grasses, herbs, and geophytes. Shrubland may either occur naturally or be the result of human activity. It m ...

communities. This ecosystem depended on winter precipitation. ''Y. schidigera'' was tolerant of this fire regime and rarely harmed. However, the introduction of nonnative grasses led to a higher frequency of fire, which decreased the survival rate of ''Y. schidigera''.

Uses

Moths gather pollen from the flowers and deposit it on the stigma of a flower, the ovary of which they lay their eggs in; the larvae eat of the

fruit capsule In botany a capsule is a type of simple, dry, though rarely fleshy dehiscent fruit produced by many species of angiosperms (flowering plants). Origins and structure The capsule (Latin: ''capsula'', small box) is derived from a compound (multica ...

as it grows, but leave behind some seeds to develop into fruit. The fibers of the ''Yucca schidigera'' leaves are used by Native Americans to make rope, cloth, thread, and sandals. The flowers and fruit are eaten either raw or roasted, and the black seeds were ground into a

flour Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many culture ...

. The roots are used to make

soap Soap is a salt of a fatty acid used in a variety of cleansing and lubricating products. In a domestic setting, soaps are surfactants usually used for washing, bathing, and other types of housekeeping. In industrial settings, soaps are use ...

. Some reports claim that Native Americans wash their hair with yucca to fight

dandruff Dandruff is a skin condition that mainly affects the scalp. Symptoms include flaking and sometimes mild itchiness. It can result in social or self-esteem problems. A more severe form of the condition, which includes inflammation of the skin, ...

and

hair loss Hair loss, also known as alopecia or baldness, refers to a loss of hair from part of the head or body. Typically at least the head is involved. The severity of hair loss can vary from a small area to the entire body. Inflammation or scarri ...

. Among the other maladies this yucca has been used to treat are headaches, bleeding,

gonorrhea Gonorrhea, colloquially known as the clap, is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) caused by the bacterium '' Neisseria gonorrhoeae''. Infection may involve the genitals, mouth, or rectum. Infected men may experience pain or burning with ...

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

and

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...

. Currently, extracts from this plant are in animal feed and various

herb In general use, herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables and other plants consumed for macronutrients, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal ...

al medications. The rigid flower stalk of the yucca, after maturation, is used as a substitute for eucalyptus stems or logs to make

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...

s. It is also used as a natural

deodorizer Air fresheners are consumer products that typically emit fragrance and are used in homes or commercial interiors such as restrooms, foyers, hallways, vestibules and other smaller indoor areas, as well as larger areas such as hotel lobbies, auto ...

, and is used in pet deodorizers. Steroid

saponins Saponins (Latin "sapon", soap + "-in", one of), also selectively referred to as triterpene glycosides, are bitter-tasting usually toxic plant-derived organic chemicals that have a foamy quality when agitated in water. They are widely distributed ...

are produced commercially from ''Y. schidigera'' that can be used as naturally derived food-grade surfactant. ''Y. schidigera'' is an ingredient that is found in a quarter of

dog food Dog food is food specifically formulated and intended for consumption by dogs and other related canines. Dogs are considered to be omnivores with a carnivorous bias. They have the sharp, pointed teeth and shorter gastrointestinal tracts of ca ...

sold. It is mainly included in their food to reduce the

waste Waste (or wastes) are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste prod ...

odor of most pets. Researchers have also found that the ingestion of ''Y. schidigera'' have decreased the

blood cholesterol Blood lipids (or blood fats) are lipids in the blood, either free or bound to other molecules. They are mostly transported in a protein capsule, and the density of the lipids and type of protein determines the fate of the particle and its influence ...

of human and chickens, increased vitamin and mineral absorption in animals, and increased cattle reproduction. In fish, ''Yucca schidigera'' extract is beneficial. It can improve the growth rate in fish as a result of increased protein metabolism, requiring less food to sustain populations of fish. Outside of boosted growth rates, ''Yucca schidigera'' can also be used to improve the health of fish as it reduces ammonia that may be present in the water, generally improving the water quality. Evidence also suggests that ''Yucca schidigera'' is a suitable substitute in enabling fish to fight off the many diseases that characterize aquaculture.

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. * Fritz Hochstätter (ed.): '' Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 2 Indehiscent-fruited species in the Southwest, Midwest and East of the USA'', Selbst Verlag. 2002. * Fritz Hochstätter (ed.): '' Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 3 Mexico '', Selbst Verlag, 2004. * *

External links

Flora of North America: ''Yucca schidigera''Jepson Flora Project: ''Yucca schidigera''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yucca Schidigera schidigera Flora of Baja California Flora of New Mexico Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Flora of the California desert regions Natural history of the California chaparral and woodlands Natural history of the Channel Islands of California Natural history of the Colorado Desert Natural history of the Mojave Desert Natural history of the Peninsular Ranges Natural history of the Santa Monica Mountains Natural history of the Transverse Ranges Plants described in 1871 Fiber plants Plants used in traditional Native American medicine