189 



Description.— Ltenyea \ to 2 feet loug, very narrow, | of an iucb or ksa wide, tliick, 

 stiff, tcruiiuatiiig iu a ueeillc-poiut ; margin with a narrow wliite Lordcr and more 

 or less witli tlircad-like lilaments ; base of tlie leaves mueli expanded, nsually smooth. 

 Flowers white, 1 to 2 inches long ; fruit, a woody, ohloug-ovatoor cylindrical capsnle 

 1| to 2f inches long and 1]: inches in diameter, ohtuse at the base and beaked at the 

 top ; seeds rather large, iltin, andjiat, f to ^ inch wide* 



88. — Spanish Bayonet. Mexican Banana. {Yucca hacatta /rorrey.) 



Sometimes a tree 20 to 30 feet in height, with a truuk 1 foot or more 

 in diameter, or at the northern limit of its rauge a stemless plant, hear- 

 ing only a tuft of leaves. It occurs through New Mexico to southern 

 Colorado (westward into southern California, southward into northern 

 Mexico, and also in western Texas), in the latter range often formiug 

 quite extensive forests on the plains. The wood is of little economic 

 value. The fiber of the leaves is strong, and when properly prepared 

 by maceration is soft and i^liable, furnishing an excellent material for 

 making ropes, for which it is considerably employed, as well as by the 

 Indians in making horse-blankets and mats. Fruit sweetish, edible, and 

 locally an important article of food. 



Description. — The trunk is more or less set with dead leaves, which are broken down 

 at the base. The mature leaves are thick, stiff, lanced-shaped, and from 1 to nearly 

 3 feet long, with a width of 1| to 2 inches, broad at the base, narrowing, broadening 

 again midway, and terminating in a long keen spine-point; margined with rather 

 coarse threads, curved backward, usually rough or sometimes smooth, aud concave 

 above. The flowers are large and showy, 2 to 3 inches long; fruit haugiug down, 2 

 to 4 (sometimes 5) inches long, ovate, oblong or cylindrical, usually with a beak : pur- 

 ple ; seeds blackish, i to f inch broad, triangular, flattened on two sides, 



