They're also called soapweed, Spanish bayonet, Adam's needle....one Web site said there were more than 600 different names for the yucca plant - most of which looked as if they were unpronounceable, unless you knew Latin or were a botanist.
The thick, creamy colored flowers share the hills with a sunflower and blue spiderwort in the background.
Doesn't this hillside look like it's covered in rich pearls?
Down in the valley, this deer has opted NOT to eat the yuccas and instead is munching on some fresh, cool, leaves.
Up close, yucca flowers are really a combination of pink and green.
They're not too fussy where they grow and climb right next to the road. The yucca plant has been used by natives for many different things. Their roots were used as soap, which is how they go the name soapweed. Their sharp, fibrous leaves were woven into clothing or household items. The ends of the leaves were frayed making paintbrushes too.
The flowers were also eaten - do they taste like soap?
In drought conditions, cattle will eat them, but not by choice so much.
In the wintertime, after the flowers have gone to seed, and the fall winds scatter them to the far corners of the Sandhills, the pods turn into little cups and catch the snow. When the sun melts the snow, it provides a refreshing drink for our feathered friends.
There are probably dozens more uses for the yucca...how many do you know about?
No comments:
Post a Comment