Al Schneider's Rocky Mountains Plant Descriptions

Small Soapweed
Yucca glauca
Camas/Triteleia/Yucca family (Asparagaceae)

Agaves are a large family of generally arid-loving plants in 20 with 700 species. The Blue Agave produces the finest tequilas. Soapweed Yucca is one of the most widespread yuccas in North America. It provides food and cover to a range of wildlife. The flowers and of the Soapweed Yucca are edible, soap was traditionally made from the plant's roots, and its leaves were used in basket making. Pronuba moth's are the only pollinators of yuccas; the moth deposits its eggs in a hole it drills into the maturing seed . Look for the hole. We mark this as "D", distinctive in its appearance in the area covered by this app, but there are a number of yuccas in nearby habitats that are similar in appearance. "Yucca" is a Carib name for Cassava and was applied, for some unknown reason, to this by Linnaeus. Cassava and Yucca are not related. "" means "covered with a white or blue waxy coating."


©2003 Matt Lavin

Description

, 1-5' tall, bearing conspicuous cream to green-white blossoms rising on a tall above stiff, narrow (~1/2" wide), sharp-pointed leaves. Arranged in , flowers are 2-4" long with 6 broad, thick surrounding 6 and a green . Leaves are numerous, thick, dagger-like, covered with a fine powder, in an upright overlapping swirl. is a woody with numerous black seeds.

Field Marks

Stiff, sharp-pointed leaves with tall flower .

© Al Schneider

An evergreen tree retains a large portion of its green leaves all year.

stamen -- the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower; The stamen consists of an anther supported by a filament.

style -- This is a long and thread-like structure that connects the stigma with the ovary. A flower may have a single style, or several of them.

A raceme is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along its axis.

A perennial plant lives and blooms for many years.

A herb is a plant whose stems die back to the ground in the winter.

glaucous -- Pale gray or bluish-green. It can mean covered with a greyish, bluish or whitish coating.

capsule -- a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. In most cases the capsule splits apart to release seeds.

fruit -- any seed-bearing structure in flowering plants. It is formed from the ovary after flowering.

stalk -- The supporting structure of an organ. Examples of stalks are stem, peduncle, petiole, ...

tepal -- like a flower petal. Tepal is used, instead of petal, when it is not easy to tell the sepals from the petals.

genus -- A subdivision of a botanical Family in which all members have a significant number of similar characteristics.