The Chronicles Of Grant County:
Yucca

December 4, 2019

A Yucca plant seen in New Mexico during a sunset in 2018.
(This image was provided courtesy of Mr. Mike Goad through Pixabay.)

Yucca is the state flower of New Mexico.

The plant is the source of the names for a number of roadways in Grant County. Yucca Pod Lane, Yucca Stalk Lane, and Yucca Valley Drive are all located in Arenas Valley, while Mimbres includes Mimbres Yucca Drive. Both Bayard and Silver City each have their own Yucca Streets.

Yucca plants are seen throughout New Mexico and the American Southwest.

“The leaves of Yucca have thick, waxy skins to prevent water loss through evaporation and are sometimes curved slightly so they are able to direct rainwater and dew down to the roots,” according to the United States National Park Service. “Yucca plants also have thick taproots that are able to store water during dry times.”

Yucca are different from most other plants in that pollination only occurs through “one species, the Yucca moth,” as stated in information from the National Park Service. “In turn, the only food Yucca moth larvae are able to eat are the seeds of the Yucca fruit. The dependence of the Yucca on the Yucca moth and of the Yucca moth on the Yucca is an excellent example of coevolution and biological mutualism.”

The Interagency Taxonomic Information System, a partnership of a number of Federal agencies and entities in Canada and Mexico, indicates that there are 33 individual species of Yucca.

“One of the more common sights across lower elevations in New Mexico are various species of Yucca,” according to the Office of the New Mexico Secretary of State. “Yucca…are hardy plants that thrive under trying conditions.”

The Office of the Secretary of State explained that one type of Yucca is the “Soaptree Yucca [that] can grow up to 30 feet, rarely to 35, in height with roots stretching for a hundred feet or more in search of water.”

In a news article dated March 20, 1927, the Albuquerque Journal stated that “Every part of the Yucca is valuable. The root is used for making a soap, and when put in water alone it forms a fine lather, harmless to delicate materials. The body of the plant is a valuable food for cattle when cut up so that it can be chewed...The lance shaped leaves are used for making baskets and mats.”

Through the years, leaders have looked to the Yucca as a potential economic asset in the United States. Remarks by Congressman John Murdock of Arizona on July 26, 1947, were included in the Congressional Record: The “...Yucca is destined to become a valuable crop in various parts of the Southwest, where it grows naturally on the desert. There is no doubt about the value of its products.”

Efforts to recognize the Yucca officially by the government in New Mexico began years earlier.

On March 14, 1927, the New Mexico State Legislature designated the Yucca as the official State Flower.

But that designation did not come quickly or easily.

There was competition.

More about that in the next edition of The Chronicles Of Grant County.

A Yucca plant in bloom in 2014.
(This photograph was provided courtesy of M W through Pixabay.)

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 Contact Richard McDonough at chroniclesofgrantcounty@gmail.com.

© 2019 Richard McDonough