cooked and eaten, with the tough outer rind discarded. The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked, in the latter case resembling sweet potato. The Paiutes dried the fruits for use during the winter. It is still a popular food amongst Mexican Indians. The flowers are often eaten by rural residents. Ancestral Puebloan peoples used the fibers derived from the leaves to create sandals and cordage, and the root was used as soap, although with less frequency than that of Yucca elata. References Further reading Fritz Hochstätter (Hrsg.): Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 1 Dehiscent-fruited species in the Southwest and Midwest of the USA, Canada and Baja California , Selbst Verlag, 2000. Fritz Hochstätter (Hrsg.): Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 2 Indehiscent-fruited species in the Southwest, Midwest and East of the USA, Selbst Verlag. 2002. Fritz Hochstätter (Hrsg.): Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 3 Mexico , Selbst Verlag, 2004. Common names of yucca species Die Gattung Yucca Fritz Hochstätter Yucca I Verbreitungskarte I Fritz Hochstätter Flora of North America: Yucca baccata RangeMap Jepson Flora Project: Yucca baccata baccata North American desert flora Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of Northwestern Mexico Plants described in 1859 Taxa named by John Torrey Desert fruits Drought-tolerant plants