native plant entry 3: chaparral yucca

this one has been in the drafts for a while, so i figured i'd fix it up to post and have it be done(finally). this one was a doozy, i ended up digging through an archive for an 1888 edition of a newsletter. those will be linked here for my own pride(lol). it's also kind of brief, it's a little difficult to find reliable information and i try to steer for dot gov sights hosted by the forest service, but they're often old. this one's really an overview, only.

if you've ever driven through california's many many valleys, you're sure to have seen this plant dotting the hills! if you were wondering, like i was, this plant is called chaparral yucca. it's also colloquially called "our lord's candle," and "spanish bayonet." found in southern and baja california, the chaparral yucca has a symbiotic relationship with the aptly named yucca moth, helping to pollinate the plant while it produces sustenance for the moth's larva.

these plants take 5-10 years to mature, at that time it then grows 10-15 feet, finally flowering(chaparral yucca flowers range from white to purplish). it's fruits will split open to release fruits when matured, and the fruits are edible, able to be cooked over the fire for a sweet treat high in carbs.

native people often used yucca for several purposes; as food and fibrous material. for example, it was used for a myriad of things such as stuffing saddles, basket weaving, and even shelter construction.

next time, i will definitely be picking a more well-known plant.

sources:

Wikipedia: Chaparral Yucca
Is Yucca Edible: Information on Growing Yucca for Food
Calscape: Chaparral Yucca
Forest Service: Hesperoyucca whipplei, H. newberryi
The Botanical Gazette | Vol 13, No 10
The Botanical Gazette | Characteristic Vegetation of the North American Desert