Yucca

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the genus comprising species of perennials, shrubs, and trees. For other uses, see Yucca (disambiguation).

Yucca

Yucca filamentosa in New Zealand

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Liliopsida
Order:	Asparagales
Family:	Agavaceae
Genus:	Yucca L.

Species

many, see text

The yuccas comprise the genus Yucca of 40-50 species of perennials, shrubs, and trees in the agave family Agavaceae, notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal clusters of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry parts of North America, Central America, and the West Indies.

Yuccas have a very specialized pollination system, being pollinated by the yucca moth; the insect purposefully transfers the pollen from the stamens of one plant to the stigma of another, and at the same time lays an egg in the flower; the moth larva then eats some of the developing seeds, but far from all.

Yuccas are widely grown as ornamental plants in gardens. Many yuccas also bear edible parts, including fruits, seeds, flowers, flowering stems, and more rarely roots, but use of these is sufficiently limited that references to yucca as food more often than not stem from confusion with the similarly spelled but botanically unrelated yuca.

Dried yucca has the lowest ignition temperature of any wood, making it desirable for fire-starting.

The "yucca flower" is the state flower of New Mexico. No species name is given in the citation.

1 Distribution
2 Species
3 Taxonomic arrangement
4 Cultivars
5 Other facts
6 References
7 Gallery

[edit] Distribution

Distribution of the capsular fruited species in southwest, midwest USA, Mexico Baja California and Canada. Overview I

Yucca faxoniana in Texas, with mature fruits.

Yucca schidigera in Nevada, in full bloom.

The natural distribution range of the genus Yucca (49 species and 24 subspecies) covers a vast area of north- and central America. From Baja California in the west, northwards into the southwestern USA, through the drier central states as far north as Canada (Alberta province, Yucca glauca ssp. albertana), and moving east along the Gulf of Mexico, and then north again, through the Atlantic coastal and inland neighbouring states. To the south, the genus is represented throughout Mexico and extends into Guatemala (Yucca elephantipes). Yuccas have adapted to an equally vast range of climatic and ecological conditions. They are to be found in rocky deserts and badlands, in prairies and grassland, in mountainous regions, in light woodland, in coastal sands (Yucca filamentosa), and even in sub-tropical and semi-temperate zones, although these are nearly always arid to semi-arid.

[edit] Species

		Yucca aloifolia	Aloe yucca, Spanish Bayonet
		Yucca brevifolia	Joshua tree
		Yucca constricta	Buckley's yucca
		Yucca baccata	Banana yucca, datil
		Yucca decipiens	Palma China
		Yucca elata	Soaptree yucca
		Yucca filamentosa	Spoonleaf yucca, Filament yucca, or Adam's Needle
		Yucca filifera	Palma Chuna yucca
		Yucca flaccida	Flaccid leaf yucca
		Yucca glauca	Great Plains yucca
		Yucca gloriosa	Moundlily yucca, Adam's needle, Spanish Dagger
		Yucca grandiflora	Sahuiliqui yucca
		Yucca guatemalensis	Spineless yucca
		Yucca harrimaniae	Harriman's yucca
		Yucca intermedia	Intermediate Yucca
		Yucca jaliscensis	Izote
		Yucca kanabensis	Kanab yucca
		Yucca lacandonica	Tropical yucca
		Yucca madrensis	Soco yucca
		Yucca nana	Dwarf yucca
		Yucca pallida	Pale yucca
		Yucca periculosa	Izote
		Yucca recurvifolia	Curve-leaf yucca
		Yucca rigida	Blue yucca
		Yucca rostrata	Big Bend yucca
		Yucca rupicola	Texas yucca, or Twist-leaf yucca
		Yucca schidigera	Mojave yucca
		Yucca schottii	Hoary yucca or Mountain yucca
		Yucca standleyi
		Yucca thompsoniana	Thompson's Yucca
		Yucca thornberi
		Yucca torreyi	Torrey yucca
		Yucca treculiana	Texas bayonette, Trecul's yucca
		Yucca valida	Datilillo
		Yucca yucatana	Yucatan yucca

A number of other species previously classified in Yucca are now classified in the genera Dasylirion, Furcraea, Hesperaloe, Hesperoyucca and Nolina.

[edit] Taxonomic arrangement

Section Yucca früher Sarcocarpa Engelm.
- Series Faxonianae Hochstätter
  - Yucca carnerosana (Trel.) McKelvey
  - Yucca faxoniana (Trel.) Sarg.
- Series Baccatae Hochstätter
  - Yucca baccata Torr.
    - Yucca baccata Torr. ssp. baccata
    - Yucca baccata Torr. ssp. vespertina (McKelvey) Hochstätter
    - Yucca baccata Torr. ssp. thornberi (McKelvey) Hochstätter
  - Yucca confinis McKelvey
  - Yucca endlichiana Trel.
  - Yucca arizonica McKelvey
- Series Treculianae Hochstätter
  - Yucca grandiflora Gentry
  - Yucca declinata Laferr.
  - Yucca treculiana Carriere
  - Yucca torreyi Shafer
  - Yucca schidgera Roezl ex Ortgies
  - Yucca schotti Engelm.
  - Yucca capensis Lenz
  - Yucca jaliscensis Trel.
  - Yucca periculosa Baker
  - Yucca mixtecana Garcia-Mend.
  - Yucca decipiens Trel.
  - Yucca valida Brandegee
  - Yucca potosina Rzed.
  - Yucca filifera Chabaud
- Series Gloriosae Hochstätter
  - Yucca gloriosa L.
  - Yucca recurvifolia Salisb.
- Series Yucca
  - Yucca madrensis Gentry
  - Yucca linearifolia Clary
  - Yucca elephantipes Regel
  - Yucca lacandonica Gomez-Pompa & Valdes
  - Yucca aloifolia L.
  - Yucca yucatana Engelm.
Section Clistocarpa Engelm.
- - Yucca brevifolia Engelm.)
    - Yucca brevifolia Engelm. ssp. brevifolia
    - Yucca brevifolia Engelm. ssp. jaegeriana (McKelvey) Hochstätter
    - Yucca brevifolia Engelm. ssp. herbertii (Webber) Hochstätter
Section Chaenocarpa Engelm.
- Series Filamentosae Hochstätter
  - Yucca filamentosa L.
    - Yucca filamentosa L. ssp. filamentosa
    - Yucca filamentosa L. ssp. smalliana (Fernald) Hochstätter
    - Yucca filamentosa L. ssp. concava (Haw.) Hochstätter
  - Yucca flaccida Haw.
- Series Rupicolae Hochstätter
  - Yucca cernua Keith
  - Yucca pallida McKelvey
  - Yucca queretaroensis Pina Lujan
  - Yucca reverchonii Trel.
  - Yucca rigida (Engelm.) Trel.
  - Yucca rostrata Engelm. ex Trel.
  - Yucca rupicola Scheele
  - Yucca thompsoniana Trel.
- Series Harrimaniae Hochstätter
  - Yucca harrimaniae Trel.
    - Yucca harrimaniae Trel. ssp. harrimaniae
    - Yucca harrimaniae Trel. ssp. neomexicana (Wooton & Standl.) Hochstätter
    - Yucca harrimaniae Trel. ssp. sterilis (Neese & Welsh) Hochstätter
    - Yucca harrimaniae Trel. ssp. gilbertiana (Trel.) Hochstätter
  - Yucca nana Hochstätter
- Series Glaucae (McKelvey) Hochstätter
  - Yucca angustissima Engelm. ex Trel.
    - Yucca angustissima Engelm. ex Trel. ssp. angustissima
    - Yucca angustissima Engelm. ex Trel. ssp. toftiae (Welsh) Hochstätter
    - Yucca angustissima Engelm. ex Trel. ssp. kanabensis (McKelvey) Hochstätter
    - Yucca angustissima Engelm. ex Trel. ssp. avia (Reveal) Hochstätter
  - Yucca baileyi Wooton & Standl.
    - Yucca baileyi Wooton & Standl. ssp. baileyi
    - Yucca baileyi Wooton & Standl. ssp. intermedia (McKelvey) Hochstätter
  - Yucca coahuilensis Matuda & Pinja Lujan
  - Yucca elata Engelm.
    - Yucca elata Engelm. ssp. elata
    - Yucca elata Engelm. ssp. utahensis (McKelvey) Hochstätter
    - Yucca elata Engelm. ssp. verdiensis (McKelvey) Hochstätter
  - Yucca glauca Nutt.
    - Yucca glauca Nutt. ssp. glauca
    - Yucca glauca Nutt. ssp. stricta (Sims) Hochstätter
    - Yucca glauca Nutt. ssp. albertana Hochstätter
  - Yucca campestris McKelvey
  - Yucca constricta Buckley
  - Yucca arkansana Trel.
    - Yucca arkansana Trel. ssp. arkansana
    - Yucca arkansana Trel. ssp. louisianensis (Trel.) Hochstätter
    - Yucca arkansana Trel. ssp. freemanni (Shinners) Hochstätter
Section Hesperoyucca Engelm.
- - Yucca whipplei Torr.
    - Yucca whipplei Torr. ssp. whipplei
    - Yucca whipplei Torr. ssp. caespitosa (Jones) Haines
    - Yucca whipplei Torr. ssp. intermedia Haines
    - Yucca whipplei Torr. ssp. percursa Haines
    - Yucca whipplei Torr. ssp. newberryi (McKelvey) Hochstätter
    - Yucca whipplei Torr. ssp. eremica Epling & Haines

[edit] Cultivars

In the years from 1897 to 1907, Carl Ludwig Sprenger created and named 122 Yucca hybrids.

[edit] Other facts

Because of their omnipresence in the southwestern United States, yuccas have lent their name to several places:

Yuccas are poisonous to rabbits.

[edit] References

Fritz Hochstätter (Hrsg.): Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 1 Dehiscent-fruited species in the Southwest and Midwest of the USA, Canada and Baja California , Selbst Verlag, 2000. ISBN 3-00-005946-6
Fritz Hochstätter (Hrsg.): Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 2 Indehiscent-fruited species in the Southwest, Midwest and East of the USA, Selbst Verlag. 2002. ISBN 3-00-009008-8
Fritz Hochstätter (Hrsg.): Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 3 Mexico , Selbst Verlag, 2004. ISBN 3-00-013124-8
M. & G. Irish, Agaves, Yuccas, and Related Plants: a Gardener's Guide (Timber Press, 2000). ISBN 0-88192-442-3
Common names of yucca species
Die Gattung Yucca Fritz Hochstätter
Yucca I [1] Verbreitungskarte I Fritz Hochstätter
UVSC Herbarium - Yucca
New Mexico Statutes and Court Rules: State Flower