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 December 03, 2024.
Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) 2024, Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/, accessed on December 03, 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 occurrence).
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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).
