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.
Species In Genus: +- 40 species: eastern coastal plain, southeastern, sc, & especially dry southwestern North America; northern, central-western Mexico, northern Central America.
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.
Jepson eFlora 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--663Index of California Plant Names (ICPN; linked via the Jepson Online Interchange)Key to Yucca
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