Untitled (Mojave yucca)

John Douglas Mercer

Looking like a figure from a fantasy tale, a shaggy soaptree yucca plant stands amongst the low brush of the Southwestern desert, illuminated against a cloudy sky by a ray of evening sunlight. This cactus species is sometimes called “palmilla,” Spanish for small palm, named so for the plant’s resemblance to palm trees. The leaves of the plant grow in a whorl that spirals upward, and each “head” grows a long stem of creamy white blossoms from its center. Oftentimes the slow-growing plant will have several “heads” but in the case of John Mercer’s subject it is a stand-alone specimen, symbolic of patience, solitude, and time, framed like a portrait.