Definition of "yucca"

YUCCA: The Indian Yucca; vulgô. / The Characters are; / It hath the Appearance of an Aloe, the Leaves ending in a ſharp Point, but will grow in the Habit of a Tree; […] The Species are; / 1. Yucca; foliis Aloes. C. B. P. The common Yucca. / 2. Yucca; foliis filamentoſis. Moriſs. Yucca with Threads growing from the Leaves. […]]

, 2nd edition, volume I, London: […] C[harles] Rivington, […]

Yuccas are large, impressive plants with tough, leathery swordlike leaves and towering stalks of white cupshaped flowers. Although they are most abundant in the arid Southwest and on into Mexico, yuccas also grow in dry sandy spots throughout the East and Midwest. There are about forty species of yuccas. All have fibers in their leaves, and many serve as soap plants also […].

1987, Rita Buchanan, “Plant Fibers for Spinning and Stuffing”, in A Weaver's Garden, Loveland, Colo.: Interweave Press, page 51

The strange yet appealing yucca is native to the United States, Mexico and the West Indies and is part of the Agavaceae family, many species of which have tough, sword-like leaves.

2000, Margaret Roberts, “Yucca: Yucca gloriosa”, in Edible & Medicinal Flowers, Claremont, Cape Town: The Spearhead Press, New Africa Books, page 85

Small, shrubby yuccas give your landscape a characteristic Southwest flavor. Their size adapts them to limited areas, such as patio and pool gardens or corner plantings. The blade-like leaves add variety to a cactus or xeriscape garden. Small yuccas make ideal accent plants, and when they send up their stalk of flowers, they become the center of attention.

2013, George Oxford Miller, “Native Plant Profiles”, in Landscaping with Native Plants of Texas, 2nd edition, Minneapolis, Minn.: Voyageur Press, page 132

Jucca, ſive Yucca Peruana. The root whereof the bread Caſua, or Cazava is made.]

, “Jucca”, in A Large Dictionary: In Three Parts: […], London: […] W[illiam] Rawlins, for G[eorge] Sawbridge, W[illiam] Place, T[homas] Basset, T[homas] Dring, J[ohn] Leigh, and J[ohn] Place

[A] second kind of bread is made of the root, called Yucca, which is bruised, and the juice, which is poisonous, expressed; it is then spread into broad thin cakes, and dried for use. In this shape it is called cassava, and though much esteemed by the natives, to a European palate (except perhaps a Scotch one) seems harsh, insipid, and little nutritious.

1824, Francis Hall, Colombia: Its Present State, in Respect of Climate, Soil, Productions, Population, Government, Commerce, Revenue, Manufactures, Arts, Literature, Manners, Education, and Inducements to Emigration: […], London: […] Baldwin, Cradock and Joy, page 69

There are two kinds of the yucca, or manioc root,—the yucca dulce and the yucca amarga,—the sweet and bitter. One may be eaten raw without danger. The other, which closely resembles it, if eaten raw, would produce almost instant death, as its juice is one of the deadliest of vegetable poisons.

1866, [Thomas] Mayne Reid, “The Cinchona Trees”, in The Forest Exiles; or, The Perils of a Peruvian Family Amid the Wilds of the Amazon, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, page 162

In some parts of the Indies they use a kind of bread called cassava, which is made from a certain root called yucca. The yucca root is large and thick. It is cut into small pieces and grated and squeezed in a sort of press, and what is left resembles a thin cake that is very long and broad, almost like a shield. Dried, this is the bread that they eat; it has no taste and is perfectly insipid but is wholesome and nourishing.

2002, José de Acosta, Walter D. Mignolo, “Of Yucca and Cassava, and Potatoes and Chuño and Rice”, in Frances López-Morillas, transl., edited by Jane E. Mangan, Natural and Moral History of the Indies (Chronicles of the New World Order), Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, book IV, page 200

Cassava is a typical Garífuna food made from yucca, a semi-permanent crop found in tropical and subtropical regions. A basic food crop, yucca grows in poor soil where other crops will not.

2006, Maria Fiallos, “The Northeast Corridor”, in Adventure Guide: Honduras & the Bay Islands (Hunter Travel Guides), Edison, N.J.: Hunter Publishing, page 85