Yuccas

Like gladiators, yuccas have evolved to protect themselves. Their bayonet-like leaves spiral around—crowns denoting their royal nature, tentacles reaching forward, touching one another tenderly with just their points. When the leaves wither to dry brittleness, they appear like tattered clothes hanging from the trunk. Or a strange, feathered, armored creature, mimicking the chitinous scales and keratinous feathers of desert creatures who are prey.
― Tyler Stallings, The Yucca People of the Southwest