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YUCCA

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 945 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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YUCCA ,' a genus of the See also:

order See also:Liliaceae (q.v.), containing about See also:thirty See also:species. They occur in greatest frequency in See also:Mexico and Yucca See also:gloriosa in See also:flower, much reduced. 1, flower, See also:abt. z nat. See also:size; 2, See also:diagram showing arrangement of the parts of the flower in See also:horizontal See also:plan. the S.W. See also:United States, extending also into Central See also:America, and occurring in such See also:numbers in some places as to See also:form straggling 'A See also:Spanish word meaning " See also:bayonet," recalling the form and See also:character of the leaves. forests. They have a woody or fibrous See also:stem, sometimes See also:short, and in other cases attaining a height of 15 to 20 ft., and branching at the See also:top into a See also:series of forks. The leaves are crowded in tufts at the ends of the stem or branches, and are generally stiff and See also:sword-shaped, with a See also:sharp point, sometimes flaccid and in other cases fibrous at the edges. The numerous See also:flowers are usually See also:white, See also:bell-shaped and pendulous, and are See also:borne in much-branched terminal panicles. Each flower has a perianth of six See also:regular pieces, and has as many hypogynous stamens, with dilated filaments, bearing relatively small anthers. The three-celled ovary is surmounted by a short thick See also:style, dividing above into three stigmas, and ripens into a succulent See also:berry in some of the species, and into a dry three-valved See also:capsule in others. The flowers are fertilized by the agency of moths.

A coarse fibre is obtained by the Mexicans from the stem and foliage, which they utilize for cordage, and in the S.E. United States the leaves of some species, under the name " See also:

bear-grass," are used for seating chairs, &c. The fruits, which resemble small bananas, are cooked as an See also:article of See also:diet; and the roots contain a saponaceous See also:matter used in See also:place of See also:soap. Many of the species are See also:hardy in See also:Great See also:Britain, and their striking See also:appearance renders them attractive in gardens even when not in flower. They thrive in a See also:rich, See also:light See also:soil, and are propagated by divisions planted in the open ground, or by pieces of the thick, fleshy roots in sandy soil under See also:heat. Their rigid foliage, invested by thick epidermis, enables them to resist the noxious See also:air of towns better than most See also:plants. A popular name for the plant is " See also:Adam's See also:needle." The species which split up at the margins of their leaves into filaments are called " See also:Eve's See also:thread." YUE-CHI (or YuEH-CHIH), the See also:Chinese name of a central See also:Asiatic tribe who ruled in See also:Bactria and See also:India, are also known as Kushans (from one of their subdivisions) and Indo-Scythians. They appear to have been a See also:nomad tribe, inhabiting See also:part of the See also:present Chinese See also:province of Kan-suh, and to have been driven W. by Hiung-nu tribes of the same stock. They conquered a tribe called the Wusun, who lived in the See also:basin of the See also:Ili See also:river, and settled for some See also:time in their territory. The date of these events is placed between 175 and 140 B.C. They then attacked another tribe known as Sakas, and drove them to See also:Persia and India. For about twenty years it would seem that the Yue-Chi were settled in the See also:country between the See also:rivers Chu and Syr-Darya, but here they were attacked again by the Hiung-nu, their old enemies, with whom was the son of the defeated Wusun chieftain.

The Yue-Chi then occupied Bactria, and little is heard of them for a See also:

hundred years. During this See also:period they became a united See also:people, having previously been a confederacy of five tribes, the See also:principal of which, the Kushans (or Kwei-Shwang), supplied the new See also:national name. They also to some extent gave up their nomadic See also:life and became civilized. Bactria about this time was said to contain a thousand cities, and though this may be an exaggeration it was probably a See also:meeting-place of See also:Persian and Hellenic culture: its See also:kings See also:Demetrius and See also:Eucratides had invaded India. It is iherefore not surprising to find the warlike and See also:mobile Yue-Chi following the same road and taking fragments of Persian and See also:Greek See also:civilization with them. The See also:chronology of this invasion and of the See also:history of the Kushans in India must be regarded as uncertain, though we know the names of the kings. See also:Indian literature supplies few data for the period, and the available See also:information has been collected chiefly from notices in Chinese See also:annals, from See also:inscriptions found in India, and above all from coins. From this See also:evidence it has been deduced that a See also:king called Kozulokadphises, Kujulakasa or Kieu-tsieu-k'io (? A.D. 45-85) united the five tribes, conquered the See also:Kabul valley and annihilated the remnants of Greek dominion. He was succeeded, possibly after an See also:interval, by Ooemokadphises (Himakapisa or Yen-kao-tsin-tai), who completed the See also:annexation of N. India.

Then followed See also:

Kanishka (? c. A.D. 123-53), who is celebrated throughout eastern See also:Asia as a See also:patron of the Buddhist See also:church and convener of the third Buddhist See also:council. He is also said to have conquered See also:Kashgar, Yarkand and See also:Khotan. His successors were Huvishka and then Vasudeva, who may have died c. A.D. 225. After Vasudeva's reign the See also:power of the Kushans gradually decayed, and they were driven back into thevalley of the See also:Indus and N.E. See also:Afghanistan. Here, according to Chinese authorities, their royal See also:family was supplanted by a See also:dynasty called Ki-to-lo (Kidara),whowere also of Yue-Chi stock, but belonged to one of the tribes who had remained in Bactria when the Kushans marched to India. The subsequent See also:migration of the Kitolo S. of the See also:Hindu Kush was due to the movements of the Jwen-Jwen, who advanced W. from the Chinese frontier. Under this dynasty a See also:state known as the Little Kushan See also:kingdom flourished in Gandhara (E.

Afghanistan) about A.D. 43o, but was broken up by the attacks of the See also:

Harms. Some authorities do not accept the See also:list of Kushan kings as given above, and think that Kanishka must be placed before See also:Christ and perhaps as See also:early as 58 B.C.: also that there was another king with a name something like Vasushka before or after Huvishka. In any See also:case the invasion of the Yue-Chi cannot have been very See also:long before or very long after the See also:Christian era, and had an important See also:influence on Indian civilization. Their coins show a remarkable See also:union of characteristics, derived from many nations. The genera' shape and style are See also:Roman: the inscriptions are in Greek or in a Persian See also:language written in Greek letters, or in Kharoshthi: the See also:reverse often bears the figure of a deity, either Greek (Herakles, Helios, Selene) or Zoroastrian (Mithra, Vata, Verethraghna) or Indian (generally See also:Siva or a See also:war See also:god). One figure called Sarapo appears to be the See also:Egyptian See also:Serapis, and others are perhaps Babylonian deities. On the obverse is generally the king, who, in the earlier coins at any See also:rate, wears a long open coat, See also:knee boots and a tall cap—clearly the See also:costume of a nomad from the See also:north. The Gandhara school of See also:sculpture, of which the best specimens come from the neighbourhood of Kanishka s See also:capital, Purushpura (the See also:modern See also:Peshawar), is a See also:branch of Graeco-Roman See also:art adapted to See also:Oriental religious subjects. The Yue-Chi were probably the principal means of disseminating it in India, though all movements which kept open the communications between Bactria and Persia and India must have contributed, and the first introduction was due to the short-lived Graeco-Bactrian See also:conquest (18o-13o s.C.). The importance of the Gandharan influence on the art of India and all Buddhist Asia is now recognized. Further, it is probably in the mixture of Greek, Persian and Indian deities which characterizes the See also:pantheon of the Kushan kings that are to be sought many of the features found in Mahayanist See also:Buddhism and See also:Hinduism (as distinguished from the earlier See also:Brahmanism).

Kanishka and other monarchs were zealous but probably by no means exclusive Buddhists, and the conquest of Khotan and Kashgar must have facilitated the spread of Buddhist ideas to See also:

China. It is also probable that the Yue-Chi not only acted as intermediaries for the introduction of Greek and Persian ideas into India, and of Indian ideas into China, but See also:left behind them an important See also:element in the See also:population of N. India. It is hard to say whether the Yue-Chi should be included in any of the recognized divisions of Turanian tribes such as See also:Turks or See also:Huns. Nothing whatever is known of their See also:original language. Such of the inscriptions on their coins as are not in Greek or an Indian language are in a form of Persian written in Greek See also:uncials. In this See also:alphabet the Greek See also:letter b (or rather a very similar letter with the See also:loop a little See also:lower down) is used to represent sh, and there are some peculiarities in the use of o apparently connected with the expression of the sounds Is and i. Thus PAONANO PAo KANIPK1 KorANO is to be read as something like Shdhandn Shah Kanishki Kushan: Kanishka the Kushan, king of kings. This Persian See also:title became in later times the See also:special designation of the Kushan kings and is curiously parallel to the use of Arabic and Persian titles (See also:padishah, See also:sultan, &c.) by the See also:Ottoman Turks. The See also:physical type represented on these coins has a strong prominent See also:nose, large eyes, a moderately abundant See also:beard and somewhat thick or projecting lips. Hence, as far as any physical characters can be formulated for the various tribes (and their validity is very doubtful) the Yue-Chi type is See also:Turkish rather than Mongol or Ugro-Finnic. In such points of temperament as military ability and power of assimilating Indian and Persian civilization, the Yue-Chi also resemble the Turks, and some authorities think that the name Turushka or Turukha sometimes applied to them by Indian writers is another evidence of the connexion.

But the national existence and name of the Turks (q.v.) seem to date from the 5th See also:

century A.D., so that it is an See also:anachronism to speak of the Yue-Chi as a See also:division of them. The Yue-Chi and Turks, however, may both represent parallel developments of similar or even originally identical tribes. The See also:Mahommedan writer Alberuni states that in former times the kings of the See also:Hindus (among whom he mentions Kanik or Kanishka) were Turks by See also:race, and this may represent a native tradition as to the See also:affinities of the Yue-Chi. Some authors consider that the Yue-Chi are the same as the See also:Getae and that the original form of the name was Yiit or Get, which is also supposed to appear in the Indian See also:lat. See See also:Vincent See also:Smith, Early History of India (19o8); Hoernle and See also:Stark, History of India. (1905) ; Rapson, Indian Coins (1898) ; See also:Gardner, Coins of Greek and Scythian Kings in India (1886) ; Franke, Beitrage aus Chinesischen Quellen zur Kenntnis der Tiirkvolker and Skythen (1904), and numerous articles by See also:Cunningham, See also:Fleet, A. See also:Stein, Vincent Smith, Sylvian See also:Levi, E. H. See also:Parker and others in the See also:Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Journal asiatique, Asiatic Quarterly, &c. Owing to the new evidence which is continually being brought forward, the most See also:recent writings on this subject are generally to be preferred. (C.

End of Article: YUCCA

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