Appearance
The plant generally is a multitrunked shrub 3–10 feet in height. They can be single trunked and tree-like to 20 feet tall. The bladed leaves range from 2 to 4.5 feet in length. The flowers, ivory to creamy white and bell shaped, are on a flower head up to 2 feet long.Flowers, pollinated by moths of the genus "Tegeticula", bloom typically in April. The plant produces sweet, pulpy, oblong fruits.
Distribution
"Yucca faxoniana" is native to the Chihuahuan Desert region of northern Mexico, southern New Mexico, and southwestern Texas. Its range is centered around Big Bend National Park in the central Rio Grande valley in the Chihuahuan Desert. It is found mainly in the Mexican states of Chihuahua and Coahuila, but also minor locales of Durango and Nuevo León. It does not occur in the upper Rio Grande Basin section in central New Mexico, nor the lower third of the Rio Grande Valley towards the Gulf of Mexico.Uses
Native Americans used the fruit as a food source—raw, roasted, or dried and ground into meal. They also used the plant leaves as a fiber in basketry, cloth, mats, ropes, and sandals. The roots were used as a red pattern element in Apache baskets.References:
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