Appearance
''Yucca schidigera'' is a small evergreen tree growing to 5 metres tall, with a dense crown of spirally arranged bayonet-like leaves on top of a conspicuous basal trunk. The bark is gray-brown, being covered with brown dead leaves near the top, becoming irregularly rough and scaly-to-ridged closer to the ground. The leaves are 30–150 cm long and 4–11 cm broad at the base, concavo-convex, thick, very rigid, and yellow-green to blue-green in color.The flowers are white, sometimes having a purple tinge, bell-shaped, 3–5 cm long , produced in a compact, bulbous cluster 60–120 cm tall at the top of the stem. The fruit is an elongate berry, up to 11.5 cm long.
Uses
The fibers of the ''Yucca schidigera'' leaves were used by Native Americans to make rope, sandals, and cloth. The flowers and fruit could be eaten and the black seeds were ground into a flour. The roots were used to make soap.Some reports claim that Native Americans washed their hair with yucca to fight dandruff and hair loss. Among the other maladies this yucca has been used to treat are headaches, bleeding, gonorrhea, arthritis and rheumatism.
Currently extracts from this plant are in animal feed and various herbal medications. The rigid flower stalk of the yucca, after maturation, is used as a substitute for eucalyptus stems or logs to make didgeridoos. It is also used as a natural deodorizer, and is used in pet deodorizers. Steroid saponins are produced commercially from ''Yucca schidigera''.
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