Yucca Species, Don Quixote's Lace, Palma Pita, Spanish Dagger, Trecul Yucca

Spanish Dagger, Palma Pita, Don Quixote's Lace Yucca treculeana is Endemic to Texas.

A very hardy drought, heat, wind and infertile alkaline soil resistant plant that is a prolific reproducer in the Lower Rio Grande Valley...Read More of Texas around Brownsville, Harlingen, Los Fresnos, Port Isabel, South Padre Island, McAllen,etc. These natives can be found on the sides of roads everywhere here in the dryest of areas along with cactus, mesquite,huisache,etc. Reproducing them is a simple matter of cutting any part of a stem from 6" long to a 5' tall piece and sticking it in the ground or a pot. The stem only needs water when the soil gets completely dry. This is a crucial component of our South Texas native scrub and is used by a host of wildlife. Laguna Atascosa NWR or the Texas Sabal Palm Audubon Sanctuary are places around Brownsville where such Rio Grande natives can be viewed in their natural settings with many bird species and other wildlife, even including an occasional ocelot..

San Antonio, Texas
This yucca has a simple trunk that may have a few stout branches. The leaves are a pleasant bluish-green and th...Read Moreey form a large head. The creamy white blooms are followed by many seeded fruit that turn into reddish-brown to black pods. The blooms may be eaten alone, in salads or sauteed with onions and/or nopalitos. The seeds need to be soaked for at least 24 hours before planting.

In the wild, javelinas munch on the trunks and white tailed deer may sometimes browse the leaves as do cattle. Birds make use of the of the plant as a nesting site due the protection offered by its thorns and the good cover it provides.