All plants /Cactus /Yucca
Yucca
Yucca, asparagus family. Abundant in West and Central Texas.
At a glance
- What
- Flower petals and flower stalk; fruit of some species
- How
- Petals raw or cooked; stalk roasted young
- When
- Spring bloom
- Where
- Dry ground statewide
- Value
- Modest calories; the petals are the easy food
Caution: Eat the petals (remove the bitter green centers) and only the young stalk before it hardens. Roots are not food. Confirm you have a yucca, not a look-alike agave. Never eat a wild plant on this guide's word alone. Confirm identity against several sources and learn the look-alikes first.
Identification
A rosette of stiff sword-leaves sending up a tall spike of creamy bell flowers. Unlike agave, the leaves are not toothed along the edge.
Uses
The crunchy petals go raw into salads or blanched into dishes; the tender young flower stalk can be roasted like a vegetable.
Photo: Ввласенко, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Forages well with
Forage safely. Never eat a wild plant on this site's word alone. Confirm identity with several sources, learn the look-alikes, and when in doubt, leave it in the ground.