Yucca filiformis
Common name: Yucca
Yucca filiformis is an uncommon form of Yucca, and there is little information about this species on on the Internet.
The genus Yucca is a succulent of the Asparagus Family used primarily as a medicinal plant. The Navajo brewed a tea from yucca leaves to treat cuts and sunburn, while traditional healers in New Mexico prepared a tea from the roots and leaves to treat colds and asthma. The most common traditional use was to treat arthritis and joint pain. Yucca’s medical properties are in its saponins, which have a bitter taste and make suds when agitated in water. Today yucca extract is used in root beer, alcoholic beer and cocktail mixers as a foaming agent. Recently researchers have found that the compound resveratrol from yucca, also found in red wine, helps prevent blood clots.
Photo by Pat Clarke