Key to Yucca

View taxon page for Yucca

(For a list of species in Yucca, use the above link.)

Jepson Manual glossary definitions can be seen by moving your cursor over words underlined with dots.

1. Leaf margins fibrous-shredding, not 

serrate 

Having margins with sharp, fine to coarse teeth generally pointing tipward, not outward; margins with such teeth on such primary teeth are doubly serrate.

; 

leaf 

Organ arising from a stem, generally composed of a stalk (petiole) and a flat, expanded, green, photosynthetic area (blade); distinguished from a leaflet by the presence in its axil of a bud, branch, thorn, or flower; sometimes with lateral, basal appendages (stipules); either simple (toothed, lobed, or dissected but not divided into leaflets) or compound (divided into leaflets).

30–150 cm; fruit fleshy in youth, pendent in age; s SW, s DMoj, e DMtns, nw DSon

2. Stem ± 0 or short-decumbent, 

rosettes 

A radiating cluster of leaves generally at or near ground level.

at tips, ± at ground; perianth parts 5–13 cm, fused > 1 mm; e D ..... Y. baccata var. baccata

2' Stem 

erect 

Upright; vertically oriented.

, rosettes at tips, well above ground; perianth parts 3–5 cm, free or fused < 1 mm; SW (exc WTR & SnGb & ChI), s DMoj, nw DSon ..... Y. schidigera

1' Leaf margins minute-serrate, not fibrous-shredding; leaf 10–35(40) cm; fruit dry, spongy, or leathery in youth, 

spreading 

Oriented more or less perpendicularly to the axis of attachment; often, more or less horizontal.

to erect in age; s SNH (e slope), Teh, e SNE, DMoj

3. Plant 6–9(16) m, trunk distinct, generally branched 1–3 m above plant base; leaf (12)15–35(40) cm; corolla cream, ± spheric, partially opening; perianth 

lobes 

1. A major expansion or bulge, such as on the margin of a leaf, sepal, or petal, or on the surface of an ovary. 2. The free tips of otherwise fused structures, such as sepals or petals; larger than teeth.

curved inward; s SNH (e slope), Teh, e SNE, w&s DMoj ..... Y. brevifolia

3' Plant 3–6(9) m, trunk distinct or not, generally branched < 1 m above plant base; leaf 10–21 cm; corolla greenish to cream-colored, narrow-bell-shaped; perianth 

lobe 

1. A major expansion or bulge, such as on the margin of a leaf, sepal, or petal, or on the surface of an ovary. 2. The free tips of otherwise fused structures, such as sepals or petals; larger than teeth.

tips 

recurved 

Gradually curved downward or backward.

; e DMoj (e San Bernardino Co.) ..... Y. jaegeriana

Please use this Google Form for Contact/Feedback

Citation for the whole project: Jepson Flora Project (eds.) . Jepson eFlora, https://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/eflora/ [accessed on ]

Citation for an individual treatment: [Author of taxon treatment] [year]. [Taxon name] in Jepson Flora Project (eds.) Jepson eFlora, [URL for treatment]. Accessed on .

We encourage links to these pages, but the content may not be downloaded for reposting, repackaging, redistributing, or sale in any form, without written permission from The Jepson Herbarium.