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Herb library · Herb · Yucca schidigera, Yucca glauca and other Yucca species

Yucca

North American plants whose roots foam like soap. The Plains peoples washed their hair with soapweed root; Mojave yucca extract is sold today as a supplement and used as a foaming agent in foods. It has not been studied on its own in people.

Traditional use

Gilmore (1919) records that every tribe of the Missouri River region, including the Dakota, Omaha, Ponca and Pawnee, used the root of soapweed (Yucca glauca) like soap, especially for washing the hair, and that the Pawnee and Omaha used the root in a medicinal smoke; the Teton Dakota also made fire drills from its leaves and stems. The Yucca genus has about 50 species native to North America, and the reviews describe them as used in traditional medicine for conditions involving inflammation. Mojave yucca (Yucca schidigera) has been valued for centuries as a traditional remedy, especially for arthritis and headaches.

What studies show

No studies in people of this herb on its own yet. What is known of it comes from the traditions that use it.

  • Insufficient

    Arthritis, inflammation and cholesterol: no study of yucca on its own in people was found. The reviews describe lab and animal work on yucca compounds and say more studies are needed.

Be careful of

Cautions

  • NoteVery little is known about taking yucca as a supplement. The only study in people found gave a blend of yucca and quillaja extracts for 4 weeks, so it says nothing about yucca alone. The 2025 review reports that yucca products are Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) for use in food; that status concerns food uses, not supplement doses.
  • Ask a clinicianTalk with a clinician or pharmacist before using this if you take prescription medicines, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or are giving it to a child.

From the old books

What herbals and dispensaries of the past printed. History, in their words.

“The root was used by the Pawnee and Omaha in the smoke treatment. By all the tribes the root was used like soap, especially for washing the hair.”
Melvin Randolph Gilmore, Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region (1919), p. 71. See the page of Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region, p. 71 (opens in a new tab) · Read the full passage from Uses of Plants by the Indians of the Missouri River Region, p. 71

Sources

  1. Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Phytochemicals Found in the Yucca Genus (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  2. Yucca schidigera Roezl ex ortgies (Mojave yucca): an updated review of its phytochemistry, ethnopharmacological, and pharmacological properties (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026
  3. Hypocholesterolemic property of Yucca schidigera and Quillaja saponaria extracts in human body (opens in a new tab) · NIH · read September 25, 2026

Reviewed September 25, 2026.