Southwest Colorado Wildflowers, Yucca

Yucca baccata (Broad Leaf Yucca)
Agavaceae (Agave Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, canyons, openings. Spring.
Hawkins Preserve, Cortez, Colorado, June 22, 2006.

Yucca baccata is a very common plant of the Four Corners and along with Sagebrush and the Pinyon Pine/Juniper forests they are symbolic of the area. They present a massive and solid stature with beautiful symmetry. Their leaves are broad, long, and sharp and their flowers large and creamy thick.

The Anasazi used Yucca baccata leaves for sandals and cord, the roots for soap, and the flower and fruit for food.

"Baccata" is Latin for "with berries".

Yucca baccata (Broad Leaf Yucca)
Agavaceae (Agave Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, canyons, openings. Spring.
Hawkins Preserve, Cortez, Colorado, June 22, 2006.

Yucca baccata (Broad Leaf Yucca)
Agavaceae (Agave Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, canyons, openings. Spring.
Mesa Verde National Park, Wetherill Road, June 6, 2001.

In the spring of 2001, the first growing season after the 20,000 acre Mesa Verde fire, the roots of a very large charred Yucca have sprouted four new plants.

Yucca baccata (Broad Leaf Yucca)
Agavaceae (Agave Family)

Semi-desert, foothills. Woodlands, canyons, openings. Spring.
Mesa Verde National Park, Cliff Palace, June 11, 2001.

The fruits of Yucca baccata are eaten raw, steamed, or sautéed and certainly must have been a major source of nourishment for the Anasazi. The fruits pictured are not yet full-sized and mature. Depending on rainfall, the fruits might swell and elongate another fifty percent.