Order Asparagales, Family Asparagaceae, sub-family Agavaceae, Genus Yucca

Yucca's globe-shaped flowers are foci of a symbiotic relationship with Tegeticulla yuccasella, the Yucca Moth. The moth gathers pollen from one plant, and seeks out another plant, where she lays her eggs in the ovaries of its flowers, and deposits the pollen she has been carrrying. The moth larvae feed on the seeds inside the developing fruit, and burrow out when finished. They drop to the ground, dig a burrow were they make their cocoons, and await the next xeason to emerge as adult moths.

Yucca glauca, which has slender leaves, is found along Magnolia and around Gross Reservoir. A fatter cousin, Yucca baccata, lives in drier, hotter locations throughout the Southwest.