Banana yucca
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 Yucca baccata at Red Rock Canyon
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| Yucca baccata Torr. in Emory |
The Banana yucca (Yucca baccata) is a common type of yucca native to the Mojave Desert of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, from southeastern California north to Utah, east to western Texas and south to Sonora and Chihuahua. It gets its name from its banana-shaped fruit.
Banana yucca is closely related to the Mojave yucca (Y. schidigera), with which it is interspersed where their ranges overlap; hybrids between them occur. Y. baccata is recognized by having leaves 30-100 cm long with more of a blue-green color, and by having short or nonexistent trunks. It flowers in the spring, starting in April, and the flowers range from 5-13 cm long, white to cream in color with purple shades. The flower stalk is not especially tall, typically 1-1.5 meters. The fruit is a fleshy capsule 5-23 cm long and 4-7.5 cm broad.
The Paiutes dried the fruits for use during the winter.
