Riffing on the Yucca...

Contemporaneous readers of the March 1, 1883 issue of "Silver City Enterprise"were presented with this intriguing suggestion:

Who knows but what soap weed will prove one of the principal sources of wealth in New Mexico.

To date, however, no known major commercial enterprise is devoted to exploiting this resource. Nor is it apparent that anyone of that time followed up on this proposal, either. Yet, yucca elata, known also as soapweed, soaptree, and palmilla (little palm), is fairly ubiquitous in New Mexico. Where mesquite does not dominate, it grows in nearly every uncultivated area of the desert. That may be why it is also the state flower.

Yet, Native Americans once upon a time did find it useful economically.

The Mimbres and Apaches used the fiber from the leaves for dental floss and to make rope, baskets, mats, sandals, belts, and other cloth. The Mimbres and Mogollón both chewed the ends of leaves to make paintbrushes for decorating their pottery. The immature seed pods provided an occasional food and the trunk and roots provided soap and shampoo for all native groups. Immediately after the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, yucca suds were employed in ritual cleansing -- to wash away the spiritual pollution of over 100 years of missionary conversions. 

In our day, enlightened homeowners allow the yucca to grow as landscaping. Under their care, these grow fuller and fatter than in the wild. Another non-native use was instituted by the local Bohemian (Czech) community of Deming in the 1950s. They used stripped-down yucca flower stalks in smoking klobase, a type of sausage, during their annual fundraiser for a local church. Over 5,000 sausages would be hung inside the smokehouse on these sticks. They did not affect the taste, and could be reused for 15-20 years.

The soaptree exhibits several erratic and eccentric growth patterns. One desert rhapsodizer I've read refers to its growth as "irresponsible" (jokingly I assume). They can grow single trunk, multi-trunk, singly, in clumps, etc. A number of yucca plants in our area have reminded me and Agapi of animals and human figures. Here are pics of our recent finds:

Cock-a-doodle-doo!

Llama, where's your mama?

Remember Cousin Itt?

Towering Tall Man.

Sasquatch, Escaping!

Here's one that Agapi espied on the road up to Silver City. It combines a couple of nearly dead branches of a plant to make one unique, maybe irresponsible, individual.

Warrior, with Weaponry.

Here's a yucca you can't bring home to mutha:

Ah, Super Freak... Super Freak...

Okay, it's been shopped. But what makes it freaky is that leaves are growing at the top of the flower stalk. That shouldn't be. I thought it was going to be a one-of-a-kind find, but we recently came across two other plants with the same sporting tendency.

My Close-up... Please.

Well, so much for pareidolia (seeing things in things). Until next time...