Soaptree Yucca
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Soaptree Yucca
 
(Yucca elata)
  
NORTHEAST OF OLD MAIN
  
32 Named from the Native Americans' use of the roots for soap; the leaves were used for basketweaving. Good accent landscape plant.

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In Depth Yucca elata, Soaptree Yucca
Location: NORTHEAST OF OLD MAIN
Family: Agavaceae
Distribution: Southeast Arizona to West Texas, Chihuahua and Sonora, up to 6000’
Habitat: desert grasslands
Habit: trunked, often branched rosette
Flowering: May - July
Natural History Notes: Yuccas of the southwest have a unique pollination story. Females of one particular moth species mate, take pollen from one yucca plant, fly to another, lay eggs in the yucca flower, then pack the pollen onto the stigmas of the flower. The moth is both harming the yucca, because the developing larvae eat seeds, and helping the yucca, because the mother moth ensures that the flower is pollinated. This is considered a classic and important case of a mutualism, where both partners in an interaction benefit - the moth benefits by having food for its young, and the plant benefits by having a reliable pollinator. This sort of interaction works as long as the cost is not too great to either partner. Some seeds must remain unharmed and it must not endanger the moth too much to spend its time gathering and delivering pollen.