Yucca, the state flower of New Mexico

How to recognize it

Yuccas are tough perennials with stiff, sword-like leaves. Depending on the species they range from low plants to shrubs and trees. The soaptree yucca, the one the secretary of state highlights, can reach about 30 feet, with a trunk topped by narrow, sharp-edged leaves and roots that can spread 100 feet or more in search of water.

The flowers are creamy white and bell-like; the Park Service likens them to upside-down tulips. They grow along a tall, slender central stalk and bloom in spring.

Where it grows

Yuccas are native to the United States, and in New Mexico various kinds are common at lower elevations. The soaptree yucca grows in sandy, gypsum and rocky soils and in grasslands up to about 6,000 feet.

Where to see it

The most famous place is White Sands National Park near Alamogordo. There, soaptree yuccas keep growing their stems taller so they stay above the shifting gypsum dunes, and in spring their tall stalks of creamy flowers are the showiest bloom on the dunes.

A useful plant

The yucca has fed and served people for a long time. The flowers are edible, and cattle eat them in droughts. Settlers crushed the roots and stems of the soaptree yucca to use as soap, a use its name recalls, and the leaf fibers were made into rope and twine.

Chosen by schoolchildren

New Mexico’s schoolchildren picked the yucca in a statewide survey. The New Mexico Federation of Women’s Clubs backed their choice, and the Legislature adopted the yucca flower as the state flower on March 14, 1927. The law names the whole genus, so every yucca blooming in New Mexico counts.