Native Plants

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Sunday - January 29, 2012

From: Santa Monica, CA
Region: California
Topic: Seed and Plant Sources, Cacti and Succulents
Title: Wholesale dry yucca trunks and branches from California
Answered by: Barbara Medford

QUESTION:

Where can I buy wholesale dry yucca trunks and branches? I have spent the last hour looking for them and can only find nurseries and decorative branches.

ANSWER:

Okay, you have won the Stump Mr. Smarty Plants Award for this week. We can only wonder what in the world you need with those. However, since we can't have a conversation, we will hunt around and see what we can find. We're not sure there is such a thing as a wholesaler of what is basically waste material from clearing an area. The landscapers clearing it would probably be delighted to get rid of it, but the chances of that advancing into regular commerce strikes us as a little poor. However, if there is a specific purpose for this kind of material, such as fibers for crafts or medicinal uses, there might well be a commercial source.

Trying to educate ourselves, we first found this article from Texas Beyond History on the many uses of yucca. It's very interesting but had no "used yucca" sources listed. From New Mexico University is a listing of resources on Medicinal Plants of the Southwest. All have contact information and some might be willing to share their sources with you. From a website Primitive Ways, we found this article Natures General Store: The Yuccas and Agave.