Small Soapweed, Soapwell, Beargrass          YUK-ah GLA-ka

• Broadleaf evergreen shrub, 1-6 ft tall (1-2 m), one, occasionally two, clusters of long pointed leaves.   Leaves narrow linear, 30-70 cm long, 6 to 10 mm wide, grayish or glaucous green, with a narrow white edge, usually with few fibers.  Flowers are bell-shaped, pendulous, greenish white, 6-7 cm long, on a tall cluster (panicle), 100-200 cm, narrow and rarely branched.  Fruit develops into an oblong, woody capsule containing many flat, glossy, black, winged seeds, about 12 mm long.
• Sun, well-drained soil  Drought-tolerant, useful for dry sites.
• Hardy to USDA Zone 3      Extensive native range, from southern Alberta and Saskatchewan to New Mexico, including North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.
• First described for science in 1813 by the English botanist-naturalist Thomas Nuttall.
• Common name: (Small) Soapweed Yucca, because its roots and palm-like leaves provided materials for the making of soap and baskets.  A much larger species, Yucca elata, is also called Soapweed Yucca.
• glauca:  gray-green, a reference to its leaves.