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Yucca elata
Also called Palmella, Soaptree, Soapweed, Soapweed Yucca
Yucca elata is a perennial plant, with common names that include soaptree, soaptree yucca, soapweed, and palmella. It is native to southwestern North America, in the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Desert in the United States (western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona), southern Nevada, southwestern Utah, and northern Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora, Nuevo León). Yucca elata is widely distributed, although its population appears to be decreasing.
These plants fare best in dry, semi-desert conditions. They are very cold-hardy, but need much sunlight.
Native Americans used the fiber of the soaptree yucca's leaves to make sandals, belts, cloth, baskets, cords, and mats, among other items; they also ate the flowers. Inside the trunk and roots of the plant is a soapy substance high in saponins. In the past, this substance was commonly used as soap and shampoo, which was used to treat dandruff and hairloss. At least one tribe, the Zuni, used a mixture of soap made from yucca sap and ground aster to wash newborn babies to stimulate hair growth. The Apaches also use yucca leaf fibers to make dental floss and rope. In times of drought ranchers have used the plant as an emergency food supply for their cattle; the chopped trunk and leaves can be eaten.
Aloe yucca · Narrowleaf yucca · Arkansas yucca · Banana yucca · Navajo yucca · Joshua tree · Plains yucca · Cape Region Yucca · Giant Spanish Dagger · Nodding Yucca · Coahuila Texas Yucca · Buckley's yucca
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Yucca elata by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts are shared under the same licence.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
Pet safety from the ASPCA toxic and non-toxic plant lists.
