330 USEFUL FIBER PLANTS OF THE WORLD. 



Yachan (Arg.). Chorisia speciosa. 



Yagua-yagua or Huitoc (Peru). Genipa am evict ma. (Dorca's list.) 

 Orton gives Yagua as the common name of a species of Attalea. 



Yaka fiber (Fiji Is.). Pachyrhizus angulatus. 

 Yashqui and Yaxci (Mex.). See Ay are rig'ida. 

 Yatay-pony (Arg.) See Dvplothemium. 

 Yaxche (Mex.). Bombax ceiba. 

 Yercum (Ind.). Calotropis gigantea. 

 Yolba (Andam. Is.). See Anadendrum. 

 Youn-padi-si (Burm.). Hibiscus esculentus. 

 Ysote (Mex.). Yucca. 



This name has heen given both to Yucca aloifolia and Y. filamentosa. 



Yucca spp. 



Endogens. Liliacece. Shrubs with clustered ensiform leaves. 



The species of this genus are chiefly natives of the southern United States and 

 Mexico, though many of them have been distributed to Europe, Africa, India, and 

 Australia, and several are found in the West Indies, Central and South America. 

 Some are familiar ornamental plants, and are quite hardy. One species, T. filamen- 

 tosa, finds its way into our gardens even in more northern sections of the country, 

 and is conspicuous in the blooming season for its large, white, lily-like flowers, as 

 well as for its long, sword-shaped leaves, each terminating in a sharp point. The 

 species of Yucca flourish on the poorest soils. Probably no other leaf fiber has so 

 often been the subject of correspondence with the Department, and but for the 

 short length of the fiber it would doubtless have come into commercial use long ago. 

 The important species of Yucca growing in the United States are Yucca aloifolia, 

 Y. baccaia, Y. filamentosa, Y. glauca, and Y. gloriosa. These are variously known as 

 dagger plants, Adam's needle, bear grass, Spanish bayonet, dwarf palmetto, etc., the 

 Mexican general name for the group being Palmea. 



There are no records to show that these structural fibers have ever been employed 

 otherwise than experimentally in this country, if we except the limited use made of 

 the fiber by Indians and Mexicans of Arizona or Sonora, in manufactures, at i lie pres- 

 ent day ; and there are no records, save the relics from the mounds of burial places of 

 the ancient inhabitants of North America, to show how long the fiber of Yucca has 

 been used in the rude domestic economy of these people. Sandals, mats, etc., from 

 the burial mounds show fiber or leaves which undoubtedly have been derived from 

 Yucca, and possibly Y. glauca, Y. data, or allied narrow-leaved forms. YVe know 

 that Yucca glauca is largely used by the Arizona Indians in basketry, etc., and 1*. 

 baccata and similar species have been employed by different tribes for ropes and 

 cordage. The uses of these fibers by our fanners, and the records of their experi- 

 mental application to the useful arts, are noted under the names of botanical species, 

 which follow in alphabetical order. 



A few ofthe less important species. which should be mentioned, are : Vixen arboresa ns 

 (see Plate XI), the tree-like California desert form, regarding which Spon states 

 that "existing supplies of the plant are being rapidly consumed for paper making,"' 

 though no American citation can be given showing that this unwieldly source of 

 fiber is utilized commercially, excepting the statement by William Trealease that, 

 some years since, the proprietors of an English newspaper established a mill in the 

 home of one of the three Yuccas, intending to make paper pulp from its wood, but 



