TORREY YUCCA
[11.] Giant yucca
Massive and thick-stemmed, the locally-named “giant dagger” is supposedly limited in its native range in the United States to Brewster County, Texas. A colony (Yucca faxoniana) resembling this species has been reported recently in McKittrick Canyon in the Guadalupe Mountains. An extensive forest of these spectacular plants has given the name Dagger Flat to a broad valley in the Sierra del Carmen of Big Bend National Park. Usually blossoming in April, the massive, white flower clusters gracing the crowns of thousands of these majestic yuccas create a never-to-be-forgotten spectacle. A small night-flying moth is the yuccas’ pollenizing agent and, in return for this essential service, lays her eggs in the plants’ ovaries where the young feed on the developing seeds.
Yucca carnerosana Lily Family
GIANT YUCCA
[12.] Sacahuista
Sometimes confused with the yuccas, the several species of “beargrass” or “basketgrass” have pliant, grasslike leaves, small flowers, and papery fruits. The plumelike blossom panicles open in May and June. The plants favor rocky hillsides, and rarely occur on valley floors. Indians roasted the tender bud stalks for food, and cattle browse the leaves when other vegetation is lacking. Mexicans, in weaving basketry, use the entire leaves, which are especially desirable for fashioning basket handles.
Nolina microcarpa Lily Family