Soap, Rope, and Burlap

          Soapweed, spanish dagger, daggerweed, palma...yucca has many descriptive common names. The reasons behind these names you'll find in this post. You'll also learn some of the interesting ways you can personally use yucca, as well as the many ways it was used back in the day.
          Yucca Y. spp. belongs to the Agavacaea family, it is in the same genus as the lily. It grows tall, needing little amounts of water, and has a life span of nearly 100 years. It's the dagger-like leaves protruding from the bottom of the plant that gives it the nickname of spanish dagger and daggerweed.
          Some of the yucca plants, such as spanish bayonet Y. aloifolia, bloom  white bulbous flowers from May to June. Others, such as the bear-grass yucca Y. filamentosa, flower from May to September. Native to North and South America, you can find these plants quite often in people's yards, in the wild, or in graveyards such as this.

          The Native Americans used this plant for many purposes. As you can guess from the title of this post, this plant has something to do with soap, rope, and burlap. Now, they didn't necessarily make it into burlap - that'll be in a paragraph or two from now. They did, however, use it for soap. They would unearth the plant, cut off its root, and beat with a rock like you would using a pestle. Then, they would add water to it to get the sudsy effect for bathing.
         They also used this plant's fibers to make rope and belts. Before the flowers bloomed, they would cook the green pods and eat them alongside with the boiled leaves. Yucca was widely ingested among the Native Americans because they believed it to help arthritis.
          During World War 2, the United States Navy continued the tradition of turning yucca into rope. Rope made from the yucca plant is incredibly strong. Soon in the war, when there was a shortage of jute, this plant was used in the process of making burlap. This was a way of using the natural resources that we had to offset the shortages of other materials.

The U.S.S. Alabama, WW2

Fiber details

All of those fibers!

          The high content of saponins in yucca root is what accounts for the sudsing  actions when it is crushed and added to water. Today, you can use the root to make shampoos and soaps. You can harvest it in the wild or bring it along with you on camping trips.
       In Japan, they found that yucca has anti-degeneration properties that helps preserve food. It is common for food products to be preserved over there with using yucca to do it. That same ant-degeneration property is found as an antioxidant and can be used for our own health. This helps prevent certain diseases and maintain good health.
          You may not guess what yucca is mainly used for commercially, though.
          Take a minute and try to guess, I dare you...

           ...It's used in some animal feed!

          That's right! The reason for this is that it breaks down ammonia in fecal matter and helps lower the stench of the feces. Not only does it do that, but it also helps the growth of the animals as they absorb better nutrition. Studies done (once again on rats), showed that it helped the metabolism and increased health benefits in lactating mother and the conception rates.

          Though not much research has been done on the possible many uses of this plant, it has been shown to possibly help relieve arthritis. It also has been shown to possibly help with lowering cholesterol when taken in a healthy diet along with exercise.
           The seeds have been traditionally used as a laxative, so be careful when ingesting. You can add this to your diet by steaming the leaves to add to a salad, frying the flowers, and baking the green pods.
           The plant is pretty much safe to ingest, but be careful as there isn't enough information to be 100% free of any concerns. As there isn't much information, sadly, behinds the helping and harming effects of this plant, I'd not recommend it to any pregnant women or nursing women.

A necklace my sweet husband made me from Yucca.

Can also be used as a bracelet!

          My sweet husband made me a necklace out of it for our anniversary. It can be used as a bracelet or  a headband as well. You'd really be surprised at how strong this necklace is! The fibers are tough and stronger together. Just try ripping one of the leaves in half, you can't go straight across as much as it wants to come apart in rows. The Native Americans would soaked the leaves before beating the fibers apart with a rock. My husband has some thoughts about it:
         "Think about it, if you're gonna make rope you're gonna want to know it's gonna be strong. If the fibers are beaten out like that, it helps to make sure the fibers that you get are good. If a strand is going to fail, it's going to fail during this process. It also helps the fibers to be more supple in conjunction with the soaking."
          So there you have it, folks. Soaking makes for better braiding.

          So whether you use this herb for food, clothing, medicine, rope, etc, I hope you enjoy. Don't destroy it, just simply use it. Now, whenever you see it, I hope you reflect on this post.