Arecaceae
The Arecaceae are a botanical family of perennial plants. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs and stemless plants, all known as palms; those having a tree form are colloquially called palm trees. They are flowering a family in the monocot order Arecales. 181 genera with around 2600 species are known, most of them restricted to tropical and subtropical climates. Most palms are distinguished by their large, evergreen leaves, known as fronds, arranged at the top of an unbranched stem. However, palms exhibit an enormous diversity in physical characteristics and inhabit nearly every type of habitat within their range, from rainforests to deserts. Palms are among the most extensively cultivated plant families, they have been important to humans throughout much of history. Many common products and foods are derived from palms. In contemporary times, palms are widely used in landscaping, making them one of the most economically important plants. In many historical cultures, because of their importance as food, palms were symbols for such ideas as victory and fertility.
For inhabitants of cooler climates today, palms symbolize the vacations. Whether as shrubs, trees, or vines, palms have two methods of growth: solitary or clustered; the common representation is that of a solitary shoot ending in a crown of leaves. This monopodial character may be exhibited by prostrate and trunk-forming members; some common palms restricted to solitary growth include Roystonea. Palms may instead grow in sparse though dense clusters; the trunk develops an axillary bud at a leaf node near the base, from which a new shoot emerges. The new shoot, in turn, produces a clustering habit results. Sympodial genera include many of the rattans and Rhapis. Several palm genera have both solitary and clustering members. Palms which are solitary may grow in clusters and vice versa; these aberrations suggest. Palms have large, evergreen leaves that are either palmately or pinnately compound and spirally arranged at the top of the stem; the leaves have a tubular sheath at the base that splits open on one side at maturity.
The inflorescence is a spadix or spike surrounded by one or more bracts or spathes that become woody at maturity. The flowers are small and white, radially symmetric, can be either uni- or bisexual; the sepals and petals number three each, may be distinct or joined at the base. The stamens number six, with filaments that may be separate, attached to each other, or attached to the pistil at the base; the fruit is a single-seeded drupe but some genera may contain two or more seeds in each fruit. Like all monocots, palms do not have the ability to increase the width of a stem via the same kind of vascular cambium found in non-monocot woody plants; this explains the cylindrical shape of the trunk, seen in palms, unlike in ring-forming trees. However, many palms, like some other monocots, do have secondary growth, although because it does not arise from a single vascular cambium producing xylem inwards and phloem outwards, it is called "anomalous secondary growth"; the Arecaceae are notable among monocots for their height and for the size of their seeds and inflorescences.
Ceroxylon quindiuense, Colombia's national tree, is the tallest monocot in the world, reaching up to 60 m tall. The coco de mer has the largest seeds of 40 -- 50 cm in diameter and weighing 15 -- 30 kg each. Raffia palms have the largest leaves of any plant, up to 25 m long and 3 m wide; the Corypha species have the largest inflorescence of any plant, up to 7.5 m tall and containing millions of small flowers. Calamus stems. Most palms are native to subtropical climates. Palms can be found in a variety of different habitats, their diversity is highest in lowland forests. South America, the Caribbean, areas of the south Pacific and southern Asia are regions of concentration. Colombia may have the highest number of palm species in one country. There are some palms that are native to desert areas such as the Arabian peninsula and parts of northwestern Mexico. Only about 130 palm species grow beyond the tropics in humid lowland subtropical climates, in highlands in southern Asia, along the rim lands of the Mediterranean Sea.
The northernmost native palm is Chamaerops humilis, which reaches 44°N latitude along the coast of southern France. In the southern hemisphere, the southernmost palm is the Rhopalostylis sapida, which reaches 44°S on the Chatham Islands where an oceanic climate prevails. Cultivation of palms is possible north of subtropical climates, some higher latitude locals such as Ireland, Scotland and the Pacific Northwest feature a few palms in protected locations. Palms inhabit a variety of ecosystems. More than two-thirds of palm species live in humid moist forests, where some species grow tall enough to form part of the canopy and shorter ones form part of the understory; some species form pure stands in areas with poor drainage or regular flooding, including Raphia hookeri, common in coastal freshwater swamps in West Africa. Other palms live in tropical mountain habitats above 1000 m, such as those in the genus Ceroxylon native to the Andes. Palms may live in grasslands and scrublands associated with a water source, in desert oases such as the date palm.
A few palms are adapted to basic lime soils, while others are ada
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples known as first peoples, aboriginal peoples or native peoples, are ethnic groups who are the original settlers of a given region, in contrast to groups that have settled, occupied or colonized the area more recently. Groups are described as indigenous when they maintain traditions or other aspects of an early culture, associated with a given region. Not all indigenous peoples share this characteristic, as many have adopted substantial elements of a colonizing culture, such as dress, religion or language. Indigenous peoples may be settled in a given region or exhibit a nomadic lifestyle across a large territory, but they are historically associated with a specific territory on which they depend. Indigenous societies are found in every inhabited climate continent of the world. Since indigenous peoples are faced with threats to their sovereignty, economic well-being and their access to the resources on which their cultures depend, political rights have been set forth in international law by international organizations such as the United Nations, the International Labour Organization and the World Bank.
The United Nations has issued a Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to guide member-state national policies to the collective rights of indigenous peoples, such as culture, identity and access to employment, health and natural resources. Estimates put the total population of indigenous peoples from 220 million to 350 million. International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is celebrated on 9 August each year; the adjective indigenous was used to describe animals and plant origins. During the late twentieth century, the term Indigenous people began to be used to describe a legal category in indigenous law created in international and national legislations, it is derived from the Latin word indigena, based on the root gen-'to be born' with an archaic form of the prefix in'in'. Notably, the origins of the term indigenous is not related in any way to the origins of the term Indian which until was applied to indigenous peoples of the Americas. Any given people, ethnic group or community may be described as indigenous in reference to some particular region or location that they see as their traditional indigenous land claim.
Other terms used to refer to indigenous populations are aboriginal, original, or first. The use of the term peoples in association with the indigenous is derived from the 19th century anthropological and ethnographic disciplines that Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines as "a body of persons that are united by a common culture, tradition, or sense of kinship, which have common language and beliefs, constitute a politically organized group". James Anaya, former Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, has defined indigenous peoples as "living descendants of pre-invasion inhabitants of lands now dominated by others, they are culturally distinct groups that find themselves engulfed by other settler societies born of forces of empire and conquest". They form at present non-dominant sectors of society and are determined to preserve and transmit to future generations their ancestral territories, their ethnic identity, as the basis of their continued existence as peoples, in accordance with their own cultural patterns, social institutions and legal system.
The International Day of the World's Indigenous People falls on 9 August as this was the date of the first meeting in 1982 of the United Nations Working Group of Indigenous Populations of the Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities of the Commission on Human Rights. Throughout history, different states designate the groups within their boundaries that are recognized as indigenous peoples according to international or national legislation by different terms. Indigenous people include people indigenous based on their descent from populations that inhabited the country when non-indigenous religions and cultures arrived—or at the establishment of present state boundaries—who retain some or all of their own social, economic and political institutions, but who may have been displaced from their traditional domains or who may have resettled outside their ancestral domains; the status of the indigenous groups in the subjugated relationship can be characterized in most instances as an marginalized, isolated or minimally participative one, in comparison to majority groups or the nation-state as a whole.
Their ability to influence and participate in the external policies that may exercise jurisdiction over their traditional lands and practices is frequently limited. This situation can persist in the case where the indigenous population outnumbers that of the other inhabitants of the region or state. In a ground-breaking 1997 decision involving the Ainu people of Japan, the Japanese courts recognised their claim in law, stating that "If one minority group lived in an area prior to being ruled over by a majority group and preserved its distinct ethnic culture after being ruled over by the majority group, while another came to live in an area ruled over by a majority after consenting to the majority rule, it must be recognised that it is only natural that the distinct ethnic culture of the former group requires greater consideration."In Russia, definition of "indigenous peoples" is contested referring to a number of population (less
Bamboo
The bamboos are evergreen perennial flowering plants in the subfamily Bambusoideae of the grass family Poaceae. The word "bamboo" comes from the Kannada term bambu, introduced to English through Indonesian and Malay. In bamboo, as in other grasses, the internodal regions of the stem are hollow and the vascular bundles in the cross-section are scattered throughout the stem instead of in a cylindrical arrangement; the dicotyledonous woody xylem is absent. The absence of secondary growth wood causes the stems of monocots, including the palms and large bamboos, to be columnar rather than tapering. Bamboos include some of the fastest-growing plants in the world, due to a unique rhizome-dependent system. Certain species of bamboo can grow 91 cm within a 24-hour period, at a rate of 4 cm an hour. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family. Bamboos are of notable economic and cultural significance in South Asia, Southeast Asia and East Asia, being used for building materials, as a food source, as a versatile raw product.
Bamboo has a higher specific compressive strength than wood, brick or concrete, a specific tensile strength that rivals steel. Bamboos have long been considered the most primitive grasses because of the presence of bracteate, indeterminate inflorescences, "pseudospikelets", flowers with three lodicules, six stamens, three stigmata. Following more recent molecular phylogenetic research, many tribes and genera of grasses included in the Bambusoideae are now classified in other subfamilies, e.g. the Anomochlooideae, the Puelioideae, the Ehrhartoideae. The subfamily in its current sense belongs to the BOP clade of grasses, where it is sister to the Pooideae; the bamboos comprise three clades classified as tribes, these correspond with geographic divisions representing the New World herbaceous species, tropical woody bamboos, temperate woody bamboos. The woody bamboos do not form a monophyletic group. Altogether, more than 1,400 species are placed in 115 genera. Most bamboo species are native to moist tropical and warm temperate climates.
However, many species are found in diverse climates, ranging from hot tropical regions to cool mountainous regions and highland cloud forests. In the Asia-Pacific region they occur across East Asia, from north to 50 °N latitude in Sakhalin, to south to northern Australia, west to India and the Himalayas. China, Korea and Australia, all have several endemic populations, they occur in small numbers in sub-Saharan Africa, confined to tropical areas, from southern Senegal in the north to southern Mozambique and Madagascar in the south. In the Americas, bamboo has a native range from 47 °S in southern Argentina and the beech forests of central Chile, through the South American tropical rainforests, to the Andes in Ecuador near 4,300 m. Bamboo is native through Central America and Mexico, northward into the Southeastern United States. Canada and continental Europe are not known to have any native species of bamboo; as garden plants, many species grow outside these ranges, including most of Europe and the United States.
Some attempts have been made to grow bamboo on a commercial basis in the Great Lakes region of east-central Africa in Rwanda. In the United States, several companies are growing and distributing species such as Phyllostachys nigra and Phyllostachys edulis; the two general patterns for the growth of bamboo are "clumping" and "running". Clumping bamboo species tend to spread as the growth pattern of the rhizomes is to expand the root mass similar to ornamental grasses. "Running" bamboos, need to be controlled during cultivation because of their potential for aggressive behavior. They spread through their rhizomes, which can spread underground and send up new culms to break through the surface. Running bamboo species are variable in their tendency to spread; some can send out runners of several metres a year, while others can stay in the same general area for long periods. If neglected, over time, they can cause problems by moving into adjacent areas. Bamboos include some of the fastest-growing plants on Earth, with reported growth rates up to 91 cm in 24 hours.
However, the growth rate is dependent on local soil and climatic conditions, as well as species, a more typical growth rate for many cultivated bamboos in temperate climates is in the range of 3–10 cm per day during the growing period. Growing in regions of warmer climates during the late Cretaceous period, vast fields existed in what is now Asia; some of the largest timber bamboo can grow over 30 m tall, be as large as 25–30 cm in diameter. However, the size range for mature bamboo is species-dependent, with the smallest bamboos reaching only several inches high at maturity. A typical height range that would cover many of the common bamboos grown in the United States is 4.5–12 m, depending on species. Anji County of China, known as the "Town of Bamboo", provides the optimal climate and soil conditions to grow and process some of the most valued bamboo poles available worldwide. Unlike all trees, individual bamboo culms emerge from the ground at their full diameter and grow to their full height in a single growing season of three to four months.
During this time, each new shoot grows
Egypt
Egypt the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia by a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. Egypt is a Mediterranean country bordered by the Gaza Strip and Israel to the northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea to the east, Sudan to the south, Libya to the west. Across the Gulf of Aqaba lies Jordan, across the Red Sea lies Saudi Arabia, across the Mediterranean lie Greece and Cyprus, although none share a land border with Egypt. Egypt has one of the longest histories of any country, tracing its heritage back to the 6th–4th millennia BCE. Considered a cradle of civilisation, Ancient Egypt saw some of the earliest developments of writing, urbanisation, organised religion and central government. Iconic monuments such as the Giza Necropolis and its Great Sphinx, as well the ruins of Memphis, Thebes and the Valley of the Kings, reflect this legacy and remain a significant focus of scientific and popular interest. Egypt's long and rich cultural heritage is an integral part of its national identity, which has endured, assimilated, various foreign influences, including Greek, Roman, Ottoman Turkish, Nubian.
Egypt was an early and important centre of Christianity, but was Islamised in the seventh century and remains a predominantly Muslim country, albeit with a significant Christian minority. From the 16th to the beginning of the 20th century, Egypt was ruled by foreign imperial powers: The Ottoman Empire and the British Empire. Modern Egypt dates back to 1922, when it gained nominal independence from the British Empire as a monarchy. However, British military occupation of Egypt continued, many Egyptians believed that the monarchy was an instrument of British colonialism. Following the 1952 revolution, Egypt expelled British soldiers and bureaucrats and ended British occupation, nationalized the British-held Suez Canal, exiled King Farouk and his family, declared itself a republic. In 1958 it merged with Syria to form the United Arab Republic, which dissolved in 1961. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Egypt endured social and religious strife and political instability, fighting several armed conflicts with Israel in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973, occupying the Gaza Strip intermittently until 1967.
In 1978, Egypt signed the Camp David Accords withdrawing from the Gaza Strip and recognising Israel. The country continues to face challenges, from political unrest, including the recent 2011 revolution and its aftermath, to terrorism and economic underdevelopment. Egypt's current government is a presidential republic headed by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, described by a number of watchdogs as authoritarian. Islam is the official religion of Egypt and Arabic is its official language. With over 95 million inhabitants, Egypt is the most populous country in North Africa, the Middle East, the Arab world, the third-most populous in Africa, the fifteenth-most populous in the world; the great majority of its people live near the banks of the Nile River, an area of about 40,000 square kilometres, where the only arable land is found. The large regions of the Sahara desert, which constitute most of Egypt's territory, are sparsely inhabited. About half of Egypt's residents live in urban areas, with most spread across the densely populated centres of greater Cairo and other major cities in the Nile Delta.
The sovereign state of Egypt is a transcontinental country considered to be a regional power in North Africa, the Middle East and the Muslim world, a middle power worldwide. Egypt's economy is one of the largest and most diversified in the Middle East, is projected to become one of the largest in the world in the 21st century. In 2016, Egypt became Africa's second largest economy. Egypt is a founding member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, African Union, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. "Miṣr" is the Classical Quranic Arabic and modern official name of Egypt, while "Maṣr" is the local pronunciation in Egyptian Arabic. The name is of Semitic origin, directly cognate with other Semitic words for Egypt such as the Hebrew "מִצְרַיִם"; the oldest attestation of this name for Egypt is the Akkadian "mi-iṣ-ru" related to miṣru/miṣirru/miṣaru, meaning "border" or "frontier". There is evidence of rock carvings in desert oases. In the 10th millennium BCE, a culture of hunter-gatherers and fishers was replaced by a grain-grinding culture.
Climate changes or overgrazing around 8000 BCE began to desiccate the pastoral lands of Egypt, forming the Sahara. Early tribal peoples migrated to the Nile River where they developed a settled agricultural economy and more centralised society. By about 6000 BCE, a Neolithic culture rooted in the Nile Valley. During the Neolithic era, several predynastic cultures developed independently in Upper and Lower Egypt; the Badarian culture and the successor Naqada series are regarded as precursors to dynastic Egypt. The earliest known Lower Egyptian site, predates the Badarian by about seven hundred years. Contemporaneous Lower Egyptian communities coexisted with their southern counterparts for more than two thousand years, remaining culturally distinct, but maintaining frequent contact through trade; the earliest known evidence of Egyptian hieroglyphic inscriptions appeared during the predynastic period on Naqada III pottery vessels, dated to about 3200 BCE. A unified kingdom was founded c. 3150 BCE
Basket
A basket is a container, traditionally constructed from stiff fibers, can be made from a range of materials, including wood splints and cane. While most baskets are made from plant materials, other materials such as horsehair, baleen, or metal wire can be used. Baskets are woven by hand; some baskets are fitted with a lid. Baskets serve utilitarian as well as aesthetic purposes; some baskets are ceremonial, religious, in nature. While baskets are used for harvesting and transport, specialized baskets are used as sieves for a variety of purposes, including cooking, processing seeds or grains, tossing gambling pieces, fans, fish traps, laundry. Prior to the invention of woven baskets, people used tree bark to make simple containers; these containers could be used to transport gathered food and other items, but crumbled after only a few uses. Weaving strips of bark or other plant material to support the bark containers would be the next step, followed by woven baskets; the last innovation appears to be baskets so woven that they could hold water.
Depending on soil conditions, baskets may not be preserved in the archaeological record. Sites in the Middle East show that weaving techniques were used to make mats and also baskets, circa 8000 BCE. Twined baskets date back to 7000 in Oasisamerica. Baskets made with interwoven techniques were common at 3000 BCE. Baskets were designed as multi-purpose vessels to carry and store materials and to keep stray items about the home; the plant life available in a region affects the choice of material, which in turn influences the weaving technique. Rattan and other members of the Arecaceae or palm tree family, the thin grasses of temperate regions, broad-leaved tropical bromeliads each require a different method of twisting and braiding to be made into a basket; the practice of basket making has evolved into an art. Artistic freedom allows basket makers a wide choice of colors, sizes and details; the carrying of a basket on the head by rural women, has long been practised. Representations of this in Ancient Greek art are called Canephorae.
The phrase "to hell in a handbasket" means to deteriorate. The origin of this use is unclear. "Basket" is sometimes used as an adjective towards a person, born out of wedlock. This occurs more in British English. "Basket" refers to a bulge in a man's crotch. Basket makers use a wide range of materials: Wicker Straw Plastic Metal Bamboo Palm Carbon fiber Zepeda, Ofelia. Ocean Power: Poems from the Desert. ISBN 0-8165-1541-7. "Basket". Encyclopædia Britannica. 3. 1911. Baskets, The Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art
Weaving
Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting and braiding or plaiting; the longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling. The method in which these threads are inter-woven affects the characteristics of the cloth. Cloth is woven on a loom, a device that holds the warp threads in place while filling threads are woven through them. A fabric band which meets this definition of cloth can be made using other methods, including tablet weaving, back strap loom, or other techniques without looms; the way the warp and filling threads interlace with each other is called the weave. The majority of woven products are created with one of three basic weaves: plain weave, satin weave, or twill. Woven cloth can be woven in decorative or artistic design. In general, weaving involves using a loom to interlace two sets of threads at right angles to each other: the warp which runs longitudinally and the weft that crosses it.
One warp thread is called. The warp threads are held taut and in parallel to each other in a loom. There are many types of looms. Weaving can be summarized as a repetition of these three actions called the primary motion of the loom. Shedding: where the warp threads are separated by raising or lowering heald frames to form a clear space where the pick can pass Picking: where the weft or pick is propelled across the loom by hand, an air-jet, a rapier or a shuttle. Beating-up or battening: where the weft is pushed up against the fell of the cloth by the reed; the warp is divided into two overlapping groups, or lines that run in two planes, one above another, so the shuttle can be passed between them in a straight motion. The upper group is lowered by the loom mechanism, the lower group is raised, allowing to pass the shuttle in the opposite direction in a straight motion. Repeating these actions form a fabric mesh but without beating-up, the final distance between the adjacent wefts would be irregular and far too large.
The secondary motion of the loom are the: Let off Motion: where the warp is let off the warp beam at a regulated speed to make the filling and of the required design Take up Motion: Takes up the woven fabric in a regulated manner so that the density of filling is maintainedThe tertiary motions of the loom are the stop motions: to stop the loom in the event of a thread break. The two main stop motions are the warp stop motion weft stop motionThe principal parts of a loom are the frame, the warp-beam or weavers beam, the cloth-roll, the heddles, their mounting, the reed; the warp-beam is a wooden or metal cylinder on the back of the loom. The threads of the warp extend in parallel order from the warp-beam to the front of the loom where they are attached to the cloth-roll; each thread or group of threads of the warp passes through an opening in a heddle. The warp threads are separated by the heddles into two or more groups, each controlled and automatically drawn up and down by the motion of the heddles.
In the case of small patterns the movement of the heddles is controlled by "cams" which move up the heddles by means of a frame called a harness. Where a complex design is required, the healds are raised by harness cords attached to a Jacquard machine; every time the harness moves up or down, an opening is made between the threads of warp, through which the pick is inserted. Traditionally the weft thread is inserted by a shuttle. On a conventional loom, the weft thread is carried on a pirn, in a shuttle that passes through the shed. A handloom weaver could propel the shuttle by throwing it from side to side with the aid of a picking stick; the "picking" on a power loom is done by hitting the shuttle from each side using an overpick or underpick mechanism controlled by cams 80–250 times a minute. When a pirn is depleted, it is ejected from the shuttle and replaced with the next pirn held in a battery attached to the loom. Multiple shuttle boxes allow more than one shuttle to be used; each can carry a different colour.
The rapier-type weaving machines do not have shuttles, they propel the weft by means of small grippers or rapiers that pick up the filling thread and carry it halfway across the loom where another rapier picks it up and pulls it the rest of the way. Some carry the filling yarns across the loom at rates in excess of 2,000 metres per minute. Manufacturers such as Picanol have reduced the mechanical adjustments to a minimum, control all the functions through a computer with a graphical user interface. Other types use compressed air to insert the pick, they are all fast and quiet. The warp is sized in a starch mixture for smoother running; the loom warped by passing the sized warp threads through two or more heddles attached to harnesses. The power weavers. Most looms used for industrial purposes have a machine that ties new warps threads to the waste of used warps threads, while still on the loom an operator rolls the old and new threads back on the warp beam; the harnesses are controlled by dobbies or a Jacquard head.
The raising and lowering
Yucca
Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers, they are native to the dry parts of the Americas and the Caribbean. Early reports of the species were confused with the cassava. Linnaeus mistakenly derived the generic name from the Taíno word for the latter, yuca, it is found growing in rural graveyards and when in bloom the cluster of flowers on a thin stalk appear as floating apparitions. The natural distribution range of the genus Yucca covers a vast area of the Americas; the genus extends into Guatemala. It extends to the north through Baja California in the west, northwards into the southwestern United States, through the drier central states as far north as southern Alberta in Canada. Yucca is native to some of the Caribbean Islands, northward to the coastal lowlands and dry beach scrub of the coastal areas of the southeastern United States, along the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic States from coastal Texas to Maryland.
Yuccas have adapted to an vast range of climatic and ecological conditions. They are to be found in rocky deserts and badlands, in prairies and grassland, in mountainous regions, in light woodland, in coastal sands, in subtropical and semitemperate zones, although these are arid to semi-arid. Yuccas have a specialized, mutualistic pollination system, being pollinated by yucca moths. Certain species of the yucca moth have evolved antagonistic features against the plant and do not assist in the plants pollination efforts while continuing to lay their eggs in the plant for protection. Yucca species are the host plants for the caterpillars of the yucca giant-skipper, ursine giant-skipper, Strecker's giant-skipper. Species of yucca have adapted to a wide variety of climates in mountains, coastal sand and prairies as well as rocky badlands and deserts. Most species of yucca have waxy skins to prevent loss of water through evaporation, they store water in thick roots. Some yuccas store water in fleshy leaves.
Some desert plants have an oily coating on their leaves or pads that traps moisture, thereby reducing water loss. Some species drop their leaves during drought to prevent the loss of water through transpiration. Dead leaves of yucca collecting against the trunk of the trees help protect it from the sun; the channeled leaves of a yucca direct dew and rainfall water to their roots. Yuccas are said to be "fire adapted". Yuccas are grown as ornamental plants in gardens. Many species bear edible parts, including fruits, flowers, flowering stems, more roots. References to yucca root as food arise from confusion with the pronounced, but botanically unrelated, yuca called cassava or manioc. Roots of soaptree yucca are used as a shampoo in Native American rituals. Dried yucca leaves and trunk fibers have a low ignition temperature, making the plant desirable for use in starting fires via friction; the stem that sports the flowers is used in collaboration with a sturdy piece of cedar for making primitive fire.
In rural Appalachian areas, species such as Yucca filamentosa are referred to as "meat hangers". The tough, fibrous leaves with their sharp-spined tips were used to puncture meat and knotted to form a loop with which to hang meat for salt curing or in smoke houses; the flower petals are eaten. The petals are blanched for just 5 minutes, cooked a la mexicana or in tortitas con salsa. Reproductive organs are removed before blanching. Yuccas are grown as architectural plants providing a dramatic accent to landscape design, they tolerate a range of conditions, but are best grown in full sun in subtropical or mild temperate areas. In gardening centres and horticultural catalogues they are grouped with other architectural plants such as cordylines and phormiums. Joshua trees are protected by law in some states. A permit is needed for wild collection; as a landscape plant, they can be killed by excessive water during their summer dormant phase, so are avoided by landscape contractors. Several species of yucca can be grown outdoors in temperate climates, including:- The yucca flower is the state flower of New Mexico.
No species name is given in the citation. As of February 2012, the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families recognizes 49 species of Yucca and a number of hybrids: A number of other species classified in Yucca are now classified in the genera Dasylirion, Hesperaloe and Nolina. Section Yucca Sarcocarpa Engelm. Series Faxonianae Hochstätter Yucca carnerosana McKelvey Yucca faxoniana Sarg. Series Baccatae Hochstätter Yucca baccata Torr. Yucca baccata Torr. ssp. baccata Yucca baccata Torr. ssp. vespertina Hochstätter Yucca baccata Torr. ssp. thornberi Hochstätter Yucca confinis McKelvey Yucca endlichiana Trel
