Standing amongst their spent brethren from the previous summer, yucca blossoms (Yucca glauca) are backlit by the rising sun on Davidson Mesa, near Boulder, Colorado.
Carrying on with an increasingly strong tradition of the camera picking up details beyond what I noticed in the moment, this image revealed some interesting surprises when I peered more closely during processing. The bright dots on the three right-most stalks are the translucent bodies of aphids, taking their morning meals as the nascent light shines through them, each one a tiny lamp beaming salutation to another journey around earth's axis.
I came here to watch the moon set behind the Southern Rockies, and I found the yucca blossoms equally enthralling. These plants are also known as Spanish Bayonet, Soapweed Yucca and Great Plains Yucca. While the name 'Spanish Bayonet' speaks to the pointed horrors that the first western people who visited this part of the world thrust upon the First Nations inhabitants, the name Soapweed Yucca hints to one of the many gifts the First Nations people learned to receive from this plant. When excavated, peeled and pounded, the root and stem will yield soap, suitable for cleaning blankets, garments and body. The leaves, too, can be fashioned into rope, mats and pads.
The fact that the Arapaho and Cheyenne figured out how to meet all of their needs, year round, from native plants and animals continues to humble me when I stop to really appreciate what it means. Although the buffalo were certainly a large part of how this land once supported people, of equal importance were the many ways in which plants were used, for food, fiber and medicine. I often walk these hills that I have lived in for over 15 years and know, with utmost certainty, that were the trappings of western civilization to disappear tomorrow, I would not survive a single winter in this place I call home. So what does 'home' mean when I know so few of its secrets?
Explored 2017-07-05
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