Mojave Yucca

Just a quickie today. This is a yucca bloom. A Mojave yucca to be exact. Did you know there are over 40 species of yuccas all over the world? The Mojave yucca, indigenous to my desert region, have these curly fibers that peel off of the spear-like leaf. The Cahuilla, Serrano, and Chemehuevi peoples of this area used those fibers in baskets, clothing, roping, etc. The fibers are stiff and sharp. They must be soaked and repeatedly worked over in order to soften enough for weaving and braiding. If I can find my project bag of yucca fibers braided into roping, I'll show you some plant-to-product samples - from gathering to stripping fibers to processing to braiding. It was a LOT of work for just those few strands.

For now, here is a photo taken along my walking trail of a Mojave yucca (aka Yucca schidigera or Spanish dagger) in full bloom.

Spectacular.


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