Common Name: CENTURY PLANT FAMILY Habit: Perennial herb, shrub, tree, fibrous succulent or not, from bulbs or rhizomes. Stem: above ground or not, branched or not. Leaf: simple, deciduous or not, basal or in terminal rosettes, generally sessile, linear, lanceolate, oblanceolate or ovate, fibrous or not, thin and flexible or thick and rigid or succulent; margin entire, fine-serrate, dentate, or with filaments, tips rigid or flexible, with a spine or not. Flower: bisexual; perianth parts 6, in 2 petal-like whorls, free or +- fused; stamens 6, +- fused to perianth, filaments often wide, succulent; ovary superior or inferior, chambers 3, style 1 (thick, poorly defined), stigma head-like or 3-lobed. Fruit: capsule, indehiscent, loculicidal, or septicidal. Seed: few to many, +- flat or ovoid, generally black. Genera In Family: 24 genera, 637 species: worldwide. eFlora Treatment Author: Dale W. McNeal, except as noted Scientific Editor: Dale W. McNeal, Thomas J. Rosatti, Bruce G. Baldwin.
Common Name: SPANISH BAYONET, YUCCA Habit: Shrub- or tree-like, generally branched from woody caudex, occasionally dying after fruiting. Leaf: rosette basal or at branch tips, 2--15 dm, linear, thick, +- rigid, stout-spine-tipped, bases +- expanded, margins generally curved up, entire or dentate, often fibrous-shredding. Inflorescence: panicle [raceme], erect (pendent), dense; peduncle generally < 2 cm wide; bracts generally ascending. Flower: generally pendent, 3--13 cm; perianth parts 6 in 2 whorls, generally +- fused, +- white, fleshy, waxy; stamens 6, filaments +- thick, fleshy; ovary superior, 3(6)-chambered, generally green, style short, often thick, poorly defined, stigmas 3-lobed, white to pale green. Fruit: berry-like or generally capsule, erect or pendent, tardily septicidal or generally indehiscent. Seed: +- many in 2 rows per chamber, often flat, black. Etymology: (Haitian: yuca or manihot, because young inflorescences occasionally roasted for food) Note: Pollinated at night by small moths while laying eggs in ovary. Yucca whipplei moved to Hesperoyucca. eFlora Treatment Author: William J. Hess & Bruce G. Baldwin Unabridged Reference: Hess & Robbins 2002 FNANM 26: 423--439; Lenz 2007 Aliso 24:97--104; Smith et al. 2021 Amer J Bot 108:647--663
Yucca brevifolia Engelm.
NATIVE Habit: Plant 6--9(16) m. Stem: erect, above ground, trunk distinct, generally branched 1--3 m above plant base, branches lateral, thick, rosettes at tips, well above ground. Leaf: (12)15--35(40) cm, 0.7--1.5 cm wide, dark green, expanded base 2.5--5 cm, 3--6 cm wide, +- white, margins minute-serrate, yellow. Inflorescence: 3--5 dm, distal generally +- 1/2 exserted from rosettes. Flower: erect; perianth 3--5(7) cm, spheric to depressed-spheric, partially opening, parts +- ovate or oblong, curved inward, +- fused at base, cream; filaments thick; pistil +- 3.5 cm. Fruit: capsule, spreading to erect in age, 5--10 cm, +- ovoid, dry, spongy, or leathery in youth. Ecology: Desert flats, slopes; Elevation: 400--2300 m. Bioregional Distribution: s SNH (e slope), Teh, e SNE, w&s DMoj; Distribution Outside California: to southern Nevada. Flowering Time: Mar--May Note: Pollinated by the yucca moth Tegeticula synthetica. Synonyms: Yucca brevifolia var. herbertii (J.M. Webber) Munz Jepson eFlora Author: William J. Hess & Bruce G. Baldwin Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange) Previous taxon: Yucca baccata var. baccata Next taxon: Yucca jaegeriana
Citation for this treatment: William J. Hess & Bruce G. Baldwin 2022, Yucca brevifolia, in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, Revision 10, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/eflora_display.php?tid=48766, accessed on April 22, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on April 22, 2024.
Geographic subdivisions for Yucca brevifolia:
s SNH (e slope), Teh, e SNE, w&s DMoj
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(Note: any qualifiers in the taxon distribution description, such as 'northern', 'southern', 'adjacent' etc., are not reflected in the map above, and in some cases indication of a taxon in a subdivision is based on a single collection or author-verified occurence).
Data provided by the participants of the
Consortium of California Herbaria.
MAP LEGEND View all CCH records All markers link to CCH specimen records. The original determination is shown in the popup window.
Blue markers indicate specimens that map to one of the expected Jepson geographic subdivisions (see left map). Purple markers indicate specimens collected from a garden, greenhouse, or other non-wild location.
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CCH collections by month
Duplicates counted once; synonyms included.
Species do not include records of infraspecific taxa, if there are more than 1 infraspecific taxon in CA.
Blue line denotes eFlora flowering time (fruiting time in some monocot genera).
