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aloe yucca, dagger plant, Spanish bayonet

Habit Plants forming colonies of rosettes, arborescent, to 7 m.
Stems

1–3, erect or somewhat declining, simple or sparingly branched.

Leaf

blade erect, dark green, flattened or slightly concave, thick, 12–40 × 2.5–6 cm, rigid, margins sharply denticulate or entire, rarely filiferous with straight fibers.

Inflorescences

pendent, paniculate, arising 1/4–1/2 within rosettes, somewhat conical, 4.5–6.1 dm, glabrous or slightly pubescent;

peduncle scapelike, to 3 dm.

Flowers

pendent, to 7 cm;

perianth globose;

tepals spreading, connate basally for less than 1 mm, creamy white tinged with green or purple near base, lanceolate, 3–4 × 1.2–2.2 cm;

filaments ca. 2 cm;

anthers 2–3 mm;

pistil light green, 3–4 × 0.8–1 cm;

ovary stipitate, 2–5 cm;

style 5 mm;

stigmas distinct.

Fruits

pendent, baccate, without core, indehiscent, 3.5–5 × 2–2.6 cm, with fleshy, succulent, purple pulp.

Seeds

dull black, round-ovate, 5–7 mm diam., 2.5 mm thick.

Yucca aloifolia

Phenology Flowering fall.
Habitat Sand dunes or shell mounds near coasts
Elevation 0–1800 m (0–5900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; VA; Mexico; Central America; West Indies
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Yucca aloifolia has been widely cultivated, and horticultural forms (or varieties, depending upon the source) differ in the striping of yellow and white on the leaves. Results of DNA studies by K. H. Clary (1997) show a close relationship between this species and Y. gloriosa.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 26, p. 429.
Parent taxa Agavaceae > Yucca
Sibling taxa
Y. angustissima, Y. arkansana, Y. baccata, Y. baileyi, Y. brevifolia, Y. campestris, Y. constricta, Y. elata, Y. faxoniana, Y. filamentosa, Y. flaccida, Y. glauca, Y. gloriosa, Y. harrimaniae, Y. intermedia, Y. madrensis, Y. necopina, Y. neomexicana, Y. pallida, Y. reverchonii, Y. rostrata, Y. rupicola, Y. schidigera, Y. tenuistyla, Y. thompsoniana, Y. treculeana, Y. utahensis
Synonyms Y. serrulata
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 319. (1753)
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