Flora of North America species comparison

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Yucca baccata

Yucca baileyi

banana yucca, datil yucca, Spanish bayonet

alpine yucca, Navajo yucca
Habit Plants often forming open colonies of rosettes, acaulescent or short-caulescent, shorter than 2.5 m. Stems, if present, decumbent, 1–24, aerial or subterranean, simple or sometimes branched, to 2 m. Leaf blade erect, bluish green, concavo-convex, 30–100 × 2–6 cm, rigid, scabrous or glaucous, margins brown. Plants solitary or cespitose, forming colonies 1.3–2 m diam., acaulescent, erect or semierect, up to 0.2 m; rosettes usually small, symmetrical.
Leaf

blade yellowish green, plano-convex or plano-keeled, occasionally falcate, widest near middle, 25–45(–50) × 0.6–0.9 cm, rigid, smooth adaxially and abaxially, margins entire, recurved, filiferous, whitish, apex spinose, spine acicular, to 3.2 mm.
Inflorescences

erect, paniculate, dense, arising completely within to mostly extending beyond rosettes, ovoid, 6–8.2 dm, glabrous, rarely slightly pubescent;

peduncle scapelike, to 0.8 m. Flowers pendent, 5–13 cm, nearly as wide;

perianth campanulate;

tepals connate basally to form shallow floral cup 7–12 mm, usually cream-colored, occasionally tinged with purple, 4.5–13 cm;

filaments connate proximally into collarlike structure, 3.2–12 mm, fleshy, pubescent;

anthers 5–7 mm;

pistil 4.5–8 × 0.7–1.2 cm (usually 4–5(–7) times longer than broad);

ovary 0.7–1.2 cm;

style 5–7 mm;

stigmas distinct.

racemose, arising within or just beyond rosettes, 2.5–4.5(–8.5) dm;

bracts erect, purplish;

peduncle scapelike, 0.1–0.2 m, less than 2.5 cm diam.
Flowers

pendent;

perianth campanulate;

tepals distinct, ovate to obovate or elliptic, 5–6.5 × 1.5–3.2 cm;

filaments to 2 cm, finely pubescent;

pistil green, 2.5–3.2 × 0.8 cm;

style white, 7 mm;

stigmas lobed.
Fruits

pendent, baccate, indehiscent, elongate, 5–23 × 4–7.5 cm, fleshy, succulent.

erect, capsular, dehiscent, oblong-cylindric, not usually constricted, 5 × 2.5 cm, dehiscence septicidal.
Seeds

dull black, obovate, 7–11 mm diam., 3 mm thick, rugose.

dull black, thin, 6–10 mm.

Yucca baccata

Yucca baileyi
Phenology Flowering spring.
Habitat Mountains, adjacent woodlands and grasslands
Elevation 1300–2500 m (4300–8200 ft)
Distribution
from USDA
North America; Mexico (Chihuahua, Sonora)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AZ; CO; NM; UT
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Varieties 2 (2 in the flora).

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

Some populations of Yucca baileyi comprise compact colonies of semierect, branched plants instead of scattered, cespitose individuals. These populations were recognized as var. navajoa by J. M. Webber (1953), who noted that Y. baileyi possibly hybridizes with Y. glauca and Y. angustissima.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Plants acaulescent or caulescent; stems 1–6, aerial or subterranean, shorter than 0.3 m; leaf margins coarse, curling.
var. baccata
1. Plants caulescent; stems 1–24, aerial, often branched, some reaching 2 m; leaf margins filiferous.
var. brevifolia
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 427. FNA vol. 26, p. 435.
Parent taxa Agavaceae > Yucca Agavaceae > Yucca
Sibling taxa
Y. aloifolia, Y. angustissima, Y. arkansana, 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
Y. aloifolia, Y. angustissima, Y. arkansana, Y. baccata, 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
Subordinate taxa
Y. baccata var. baccata, Y. baccata var. brevifolia
Synonyms Y. baileyi var. navajoa, Y. navajoa, Y. standleyi
Name authority Torrey: in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 221. (1859) Wooton & Standley: Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 6: 114. (1913)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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