Yucca

Other names: soapweed

Scientific name: Yucca glauca

Common names:

Ayurvedic names:

Chinese names:

Bangladesh names:

Arabic names:    اليكة (al yakah)

Rain Forest names:

Family: Fabaceae

Approximate number of species known:

Common parts used: root

Collection: Throughout

Annual/Perennial: Perennial

Height: 2-4 feet

Actions: anti-fungal, antitumour, antiarthritic

Known Constituents: Saponins

Constituents Explained:

Description: 

The leaves are stiff  in a rosette. Grows in dry soils such as deserts.

Traditional Use:

The American Indians used the root externally to stop bleeding and reduce inflammation.  The saponins in the root tend to soap up. The pulp of the fruit is used as food by either boiling or baking it.  Part of it is used for soap and is toxic. This part is not used for food unless washed or crushed to eliminate the saponins.    Due to the toxic part of the root it shoould be used with caution.

Clinical Studies:

Source:

Herb Name: Yucca

Others names: Adam’s Needle, Mojave Yucca, Soapweed, Aloe Yucca and Spanish bayonet

Latin name: Yucca baccata or Yucca schidigera

Family: Agavaceae or Liliaceae

Common part used: Whole Plant, Root, Juice 

Description: Yucca is an evergreen tree with rosettes of blue-green leaves, white to cream flowers, rough black seeds, and a fleshy sweet fruit. The tree may have a short or tall trunk or no trunk at all.

Properties: Yucca is an herb that is used in herbal medicine to treat baldness, joint and bone conditions, dandruff, gastrointestinal disorders, headaches, high cholesterol or triglycerides, hyperglycemia, skin conditions, sprains, stomach disorders, painful joints, wounds, vascular disorders, and for cellular regeneration. Its properties include: anti-inflammatory, cleansing, and detoxifying. In can be used in the form of a hair wash, shampoo, soap, water extract, tonic, poultice, salve, and styptic.

Contents: The main active ingredients in Yucca are terpenoids (saponins) and steroidal saponins.

Internal use: Internally, Yucca can be used for treating painful joint and bone conditions (helps to reduce swelling, stiffness, and pain), stomach disorders, and hyperglycemia. Yucca may relieve headaches, as well as it may improve gastrointestinal and vascular function. The leaf extract (contains saponins) has a powerful anti-inflammatory effect, as well as it fights abnormal growths. Yucca can help to detoxify and cleanse the body, particularly the gastrointestinal tract. 

External use: Yucca water extract is used in poultices or salves for healing wounds, sores, skin diseases, and sprains. Topically, Yucca juice can be used for soothing painful joints. Shampoos with this plant are used for treating baldness and dandruff.

Essential oil and aromatherapy use: Can be found in essential oil blends.

Safety precautions: Yucca is non-toxic. In rare cases it may cause diarrhea or nausea.