The Yucca

This is a companion page to the 'Spider'. Text reads:
The Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the agave family, Agavaceae. Its 40-50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry (arid) parts of North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.

Yuccas have a very specialized, mutualistic pollination system, being pollinated by the yucca moth; the insect purposefully transfers the pollen from the stamens of one plant to the stigma of another, and at the same time lays an egg in the flower; the moth larva then feeds on some of the developing seeds, but far from all.

The blossoms this year are incredible on the single stalk on the several Yuccas we have in our yard. On this particular plant in these photos, there are right now more than 100 of the bell like blossoms open, and at the top of the plant at least another 50 tight buds will open within the next couple of days. They are most fragrant in the evening.




If you want to live and thrive, let the spider stay alive.

This teeny little spider spent the whole day on a new yucca blossom, now guarding the bud, now looking like a part of it, sometimes running around behind the stem to hide from the big scary lens of my camera. Font is Castellar, string is from Watercolor Wonder by Debb Cozzi, and background papers and matte are taken from Villa Rusticana by Rina Kroes.