Cross-section of the 3 carpels (6 locules)
By mid-June, the white yucca flowers have all dropped away. Many yucca stalks are barren, indicating that there were no yucca moths present in the locality. But green yucca pods during the summer are a sure sign the moths were busy in the flowers, and most pods will contain a few of their larvae.
Six stacks of black coin-like seeds form rows inside the pods. You can split the green pods into thirds, each carpel holding two rows or locules of seeds. The small gray-to-pinkish yucca moth caterpillars may be feeding anywhere in the core of the seed rows. If they burrow toward the end and run out of food, they bore sideways into another locule or across a carpal wall. Often an outside constriction in the pod reveals their internal consumption of seeds.
