Flora of North America species comparison

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Yucca faxoniana

Eve's needle, Faxon yucca, Spanish bayonet, Spanish dagger
Habit Plants solitary, erect, arborescent, 2.5–6.9 m, including inflorescence.
Stems

1, simple or with 2–4 branches, to 5.1 m, average diam. 32 cm.
Leaf

blade erect, yellowish green, 43–115 × 3.1–8.4 cm, rigid, smooth, glabrous, margins conspicuous, curling, filiferous, brown.
Inflorescences

erect, paniculate, often with proximal branches arising beyond rosettes, broadly ovoid, 5.5–25.5 dm, glabrous;

peduncle 0.3–0.6 m. Flowers pendent, 4.4–12.4 cm;

perianth campanulate;

tepals connate basally into floral cup 1–32 mm, white to greenish white, ovate, 3.9–10.8 cm;

filaments averaging 2.2 cm from base of tepals, glabrous;

anthers 1–6 mm;

pistil 2.8–8 × 0.7 cm;

ovary ca. 4.5–5 times longer than wide;

style 4.5 mm;

stigmas distinct.
Fruits

pendent, baccate, indehiscent, elongate, 3.6–13.6 × 1.8–3.6 cm, fleshy, succulent.
Seeds

black, 7.7 mm diam., 2.9 mm thick, smooth.

Yucca faxoniana
Phenology Flowering late winter–spring.
Habitat Rocky slopes, flat plains
Elevation 800–2100 m (2600–6900 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila)
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Trelease described the genus Samuela based on two species, Samuela faxoniana and S. carnerosana. K. H. Clary’s DNA study (1997) shows them to be closely related but genetically distinct.

Yucca faxoniana is often used for landscaping in arid and semiarid regions of Texas and New Mexico.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 427.
Parent taxa Agavaceae > Yucca
Sibling taxa
Y. aloifolia, Y. angustissima, Y. arkansana, Y. baccata, Y. baileyi, Y. brevifolia, Y. campestris, Y. constricta, Y. elata, 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 Samuela faxoniana, Y. australis, Y. macrocarpa
Name authority Sargent: Man. Trees, 121. (1905)
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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