What Is the Yucca Root?

Every fruit and vegetable we see in the produce section of a modern supermarket was once a wild plant, and many have a number of uses beyond being part of someone's dinner or salad. The exotic Yucca is one such "useful" plant. According to the website for the Medicinal Plants of the Southwest Program at New Mexico State Univerity, Yucca is a perrenial succulent commonly found growing throughout the deserts, plains and Mesas of the southwest United States and in Mexico's desert highlands and plateaus.

Features

• There are a number of different species of Yucca, yet all share the same characteristics. Described as resembling a "bush-like palm tree," the yucca's long, narrow, razor-sharp leaves radiate from the plant's base. Tall flower stalks grow up from the center of the plant, each laden with clusters of waxy flowers and fruit pods; inside the fruit pods are thin black seeds. The roots of the Yucca plant have a woody thick bark-like outer covering a spongy inner core.

Dimensions

• Some species of Yucca plants can grow up to 13 feet tall. The flower stalks are 3 to 5 feet in length; fruit pods are 2 to 3 inches long and 1 to 2 inches wide.

Yucca Root Uses

• The roots of the Yucca plant have long been used as a medicine by the country's Native American inhabitants. According to David Hoffman, author of "The Herbal Handbook," Yucca roots (and leaves) contain steroidal saponins, which are precursers to cortisone and an important class of plant chemical used in the pharmaceutical industry. Yucca root also contains Vitamin A and B-Complex as well as calcium, copper, potassium and manganese. Herbalists and Native American healers direct their clients to boil the roots in water and drink it as a tea to reduce inflammation and to provide relief for arthritis and joint pain. The roots can also be ground and prepared as a salve.

Taxonomy

• The U.S. National Museum of Natural History's Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), an extensive scientific database of all North American species, identifies Yucca under the following Taxonomic Hierarchy:
  Kingdom: Plantae
  Subkingdom: Tracheobionta
  Division: Magnoliophyta (angiosperm),
  Class: Liliopsida (monocot),
  Family: Agavaceae
  Genus: Yucca L.

Common Names

• Thirty different species of Yucca have been identified under various common names, including Soaptree Yucca, Soapweed Yucca, Beargrass, Spanish Dagger, Spanish Bayonet, Jushua Tree and Adam's Needle.