Yucca plants are very attractive with their bell-shaped white flowers and spiny leaves. They are a mighty plant, so hearty they can survive even the most rugged of conditions.
Food
If you come across a fruiting or flowering Yucca in the wild, you are in luck! The flowers, fruit, and seeds of the Yucca are edible, and are known to taste yummy. However, the roots are toxic so leave those for craft.
A fruiting Yucca, the fruits are not ripe just yet.
Yucca contains a high amount of vitamins A, B and C. The plant is also an excellent source of calcium, phosphorus, iron, manganese and copper.
One way to prepare Yucca flower is to lightly blanche the petals and toss with tomato and onion. Remove the reproductive parts as they have a bitter taste.
Medicine
Native folk medicine touts Yucca to have powerful anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-fungal properties. Traditional medicine also claims that Yucca relieves arthtitis. Another use for Yucca in medicine is that the power plant can also lower cholesterol.
The Yucca can get as big as a small tree! Some look like Palm!
Keep in mind that all of these claims have not been backed by scientific evidence . . . Yet.
Craft
Yucca roots are high in saponins which makes an excellent frothy soap and shampoo for hair. It has also been used to treat dandruff and hair loss. The fibrous leaves and trunk of the Yucca make great kindling for starting fires. The tips of their spiny leaves are very durable which is ideal for crafting sewing needles. Native Americans would fashion the spines into hooks for hanging meat.
With the Yuccas in full bloom right now, I may take home a handful of petals and make a warm salad. I am tempted to dig up the roots and try the natural shampoo!
