Flora of North America species comparison

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Yucca pallida

pale yucca, twistleaf yucca
Habit Plants forming loose colonies of rosettes, acaulescent, with branching subterranean caudices; rosettes 10–30 per colony, each rosette with fewer than 100 leaves.
Leaf

blade lanceolate, straight, flat except becoming concave near apex, widest above middle, 20–50 × 1–4.5 cm, flexible, glaucous, margins denticulate or sometimes wavy, yellow.
Inflorescences

paniculate, often distally racemose, arising beyond rosettes, 7–12 dm, with wide-spreading branchlets 1.5–2.3 dm;

bracts erect;

peduncle scapelike, 0.6–1.3 m, less than 2.5 cm diam., glaucous.
Flowers

pendent;

perianth campanulate;

tepals distinct, greenish white, elliptic to ovate, 5–6.5 × 2–3.2 cm;

filaments 1.8–3.2 cm;

pistil 3.2–4 cm;

style white, 13–20 mm;

stigmas lobed.
Fruits

erect, capsular, dehiscent, oblong-cylindric, 4.5–5.5 × 1.3–2 cm, dehiscence septicidal.
Seeds

dull black, thin, 5–7 mm diam.

Yucca pallida
Phenology Flowering spring.
Habitat Rocky prairies and uplands, rarely limestone hills
Elevation 100–400 m (300–1300 ft)
Distribution
from FNA
TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Yucca pallida is endemic to the blackland prairies of Texas and was originally included in Y. rupicola. J. M. Webber (1953) indicated that he found plants of Y. rupicola with key features similar to those of Y. pallida. Occasionally, plants with entire margins are found; these have been called Y. pallida var. edentata, which S. D. McKelvey (1938–1947) suggested might be a hybrid between Y. pallida and Y. arkansana. K. H. Clary (1997) indicated that DNA evidence confirms the close relationship of Y. pallida and Y. rupicola.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 26, p. 431.
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. faxoniana, Y. filamentosa, Y. flaccida, Y. glauca, Y. gloriosa, Y. harrimaniae, Y. intermedia, Y. madrensis, Y. necopina, Y. neomexicana, Y. reverchonii, Y. rostrata, Y. rupicola, Y. schidigera, Y. tenuistyla, Y. thompsoniana, Y. treculeana, Y. utahensis
Synonyms Y. pallida var. edentata, Y. rupicola var. edentata
Name authority McKelvey: Yuccas Southw. U.S. 2: 57, plates 13, 14. (1947)
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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