Yucca Elata

The Soaptree yucca (Yucca elata) is a perennial plant in the genus Yucca. It is native to southwestern North America, in the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Desert in the United States (western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona), and northern Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Sonora, Nuevo León).

This plant grows from 1.2-4.5 m tall, with a sparsely branched trunk. The trunk is brown, cylindrical in shape and has a small diameter and often has holes drilled by escaping Yucca moth larvae. The leaves are arranged in a dense spiral whorl at the apex of the stems, each leaf 25-95 cm long and very slender, 0.2-1.3 cm broad. The white, bell-shaped flowers grow in a dense cluster on a slender stem at the apex of the stem, each flower 32-57 mm long, creamy white, often tinged pinkish or greenish.

The Soaptree yucca's fruit is a capsule 4-8 cm long and 2-4 cm broad, maturing brown in summer, when it splits into three sections to release the black seeds. They do not flower every year.

There are three subspecies:

• Yucca elata ssp. elata. Capsules large, 5-8 cm; leaves long, 30-95 cm. Throughout the species' range.
• Yucca elata ssp. verdiensis. Capsules small, 4-4.5 cm; leaves short, 25-45 cm. Arizona only.
• Yucca elata ssp. utahensis.

These plants fare best in dry, semi-desert conditions. They are very cold-hardy, but need lots of sunlight.