LILIACEAE 



The distribution is limited to western Texas, adjacent New Mexico 

 and Mexico # It has doubtless been used the sane as D, leiophyllum . 



♦Yucca elata is the common Yucca of the southern portion of 

 our range. The" trunks often grow to be ten feet high or more. 

 Under cultivation 20-foot trunks arc not uncommon. It is probable 

 that this plant has not been properly appreciated as an erosion 

 control plant. It has a tenacious fibrous root system and in many 

 valleys is sufficiently abundant to constitute a real factor in 

 erosion control. In times of severe drought stock oat the leaves 

 to considerable extent and at times the entire plants have been 

 ground and fed to stock, thus enabling cattlemen to tide over dis- 

 astrous times. The f lower 3 are greedily oaten by all kinds of 

 livestock. Fortunately for the Yuccas the flowering stalks are 

 usually out of reach. The flowers are also eaten by several tribes 

 of Indians. If it wore not for the finicky notion of the whites 

 against eating a few insects along with their food they too would 

 doubtless appreciate a salad made of these large succulent flowers. 

 The roots of this plant constitute one of the orioles so commonly 

 used for soap by the Mexicans. A bed of this plant has been grown 

 at Tucson and so dense has it become in the bed that it suggests 

 itself for use in plugging gullies or for forming living de silting 

 structures and spreaders above eroding gullies. 



* Yucca glauca is the common Yucca of ncrthca stern Mew Mexico 

 and the foothills of eastern Colorado* It is low, having little 

 if any stalk, and very narrow, glaucus leaves. In places plants 

 are very abundant. The fruits and flowers are used for food by the 

 Indians, the leaves are sometimes used for making stable brooms, 

 and the roots arc used for soap. It seems likely that this plant 

 could be grown for do silting and spreading structures as suggested 

 in the discussion of Yucca elata. 



♦Yucca b acca ta, Baccate Yucca, is a low yucca with stiff, 

 rather broad leaves. It is common in northern Hew Mexico and south 

 crn Colorado and extends westward to Mevada. It probably has 

 little erosion control value but might be used by spreading struc- 

 tures. The fruits are vised by the Indians for food both fresh and 

 dried. 



♦ Yuc ca macro car pa, Big-fruited Yucca, is the common Spanish 

 Bayonet in western Texas and southern Arizona. It is the o»o com- 

 monly used for ornamental planting along highways east of El Paso, 

 Texas. The trunks become large and often 15 feet or more tall, 

 especially under cultivation. Moo ton a Standlov reoort that the 



