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Oct. 31, 2006 Three plants common in southwestern United States that are often lumped informally with cactus, but which are not true cactuses, are yucca, century plant and ocotillo. The southwestern yucca constitutes a genus, Yucca, of the family Agavaceae, once placed in the monocot order Liliales, nowadays placed in a new monocot order, Asparagales. Yucca, which comprises about 50 species, is the state flower of New Mexico. Yucca grow throughout the southwestern states, the average plant being 6 to 10 feet tall. The leaves are slivery, sharp and tough, and can hardly be broken by hand. In Spanish, ‘yuca’ refers both to ‘yucca’, as we know it, and to the totally unrelated plant ‘cassava’ or ‘manioc’ (Manihot esculenta), which has a large yam-like edible root, the source of tapioca. Some people may have the mistaken notion that this latter plant has something to do with the former. Generally, I don’t think southwestern yucca is edible, as some people claim, but I’m not an expert. Yuccas can be very beautiful, if properly cared for. Here is a picture of Yucca filamentosa: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/fb/Yukka_filamentosa.jpg The century plant, Agave americana, belongs to the same family and order as yucca, but the ‘leaves’ are much larger and thicker, up to the size of a baseball bat. These plants grow throughout the southwestern desert of the US, Mexico, Central America, the Colombian highlands and Perú, as I saw on my bus ride from Los Angeles to Lima. They are also widely cultivated as ornamentals. The name derives from the legend that they bloom only once per century. According to websites I consulted, they bloom only once is a lifetime, which is generally about 25 years. Here is a picture of a stunning specimen: http://webs.lanset.com/hlouiesj/Web%20photos/Century%20Plant.jpg The ocotillo is totally unrelated not only to cactus, but also to the two above plants. In scientific nomenclature, it is Fouquieria splendens, in the family Fouquieriaceae. This was placed, in the older Cronquist system, in the order Violales, but the newer APG system, based on DNA comparisons, puts it in the order Ericales. Either way, it’s a dicot, botanically remote from yucca and century plant. The branches have sharp spines, and this may have led people to group it with cacti. Ocotillo grows in the southwestern desert in the US and in Mexico. Here is a website with excellent pictures and more information. http://www.desertusa.com/nov96/du_ocotillo.html American Heritage Dictionary gives the plural of ‘ocotillo’ as ‘ocotillos’, which follows Spanish usage, rather than English. It is the diminutive of ‘ocote’, the Mexican name of the pitch pine, from Aztec or Nahuatl ‘ocotl’. American Heritage gives no plural for ‘yucca’, but a Yahoo Search turns up 148,000 results for the word ‘yuccas’. However, it is likely that both nouns, like names of many trees, can be used indifferently as singular or plural, as “The yucca is in bloom now,” or “The yucca are in bloom now.” Similarly, “The ocotillo is in bloom,” and, “The ocotillo are in bloom.” ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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