Yucca

Yucca
Yucca filamentosa in New Zealand
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
clade: Angiosperms
clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Agavoideae
Genus: Yucca
L.
Species

See text.
Synonyms

Clistoyucca (Engelm.) Trel.
Samuela Trel.
Sarcoyucca (Engelm.) Linding.[1]

Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae.[2] Its 40-50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry (arid) parts of North America, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. Early reports of the species were confused with the cassava (Manihot esculenta).[3] Consequently, Linnaeus mistakenly derived the generic name from the Carib word for the latter, yuca (spelt with a single "c").[4] It is also colloquially known in the midwest United States as "Ghosts in the graveyard", as it is commonly found growing in rural graveyards and when in bloom the flowers appear as an apparition floating.

Contents

Distribution

The natural distribution range of the genus Yucca (49 species and 24 subspecies) covers a vast area of North and Central America. From Baja California in the west, northwards into the southwestern United States, through the drier central states as far north as Alberta in Canada (Yucca glauca ssp. albertana), and moving east along the Gulf of Mexico, and then north again, through the Atlantic coastal and inland neighbouring states. To the south, the genus is represented throughout Mexico and extends into Guatemala (Yucca guatemalensis). Yuccas have adapted to an equally vast range of climatic and ecological conditions. They are to be found in rocky deserts and badlands, in prairies and grassland, in mountainous regions, in light woodland, in coastal sands (Yucca filamentosa), and even in subtropical and semi-temperate zones, although these are generally arid to semi-arid.

Ecology

Yuccas have a very specialized, mutualistic pollination system, being pollinated by yucca moths (family Prodoxidae); the insect purposefully transfers the pollen from the stamens of one plant to the stigma of another, and at the same time lays an egg in the flower; the moth larva then feeds on some of the developing seeds, always leaving enough seed to perpetuate the species. Yucca species are the host plants for the caterpillars of the Yucca Giant-Skipper (Megathymus yuccae),[5] Ursine Giant-Skipper (Megathymus ursus),[6] and Strecker's Giant-Skipper (Megathymus streckeri).[7]

Uses

Yuccas are widely grown as ornamental plants in gardens. Many species of yucca also bear edible parts, including fruits, seeds, flowers, flowering stems,[8] and more rarely roots. References to yucca root as food often stem from confusion with the similarly spelled but botanically unrelated yuca, also called cassava (Manihot esculenta). Roots of soaptree yucca (Yucca elata) are high in saponins and are used as a shampoo in Native American rituals. Dried yucca leaves and trunk fibers have a low ignition temperature, making the plant desirable for use in starting fires via friction.[9] In rural Appalachian areas, species such as Yucca filamentosa are referred to as "meat hangers". The tough fibrous leaves with their sharp spined tips were used to puncture meat and knotted to form a loop with which to hang meat for salt curing or in smoking houses.

Cultivation

Yuccas are widely planted in the western US as a landscape plant. Most species are generally heat and cold tolerant, requiring little care and low water. They offer a dramatic accent to a landscape design.

Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) are protected by law in some states. A permit is needed for wild collection. As a landscape plant, they can be killed by excessive water during their summer dormant phase. For these two reasons they are avoided by landscape contractors.

Symbolism

The "yucca flower" is the state flower of New Mexico. No species name is given in the citation.

Species

Yucca aloifolia Aloe yucca, Spanish Bayonet
Yucca angustissima Narrowleaf yucca, Spanish Bayonet
Yucca brevifolia Joshua tree
Yucca baccata Banana yucca, datil
Yucca constricta Buckley's yucca
Yucca decipiens Palma China
Yucca elata Soaptree yucca
Yucca filamentosa Spoonleaf yucca, Filament yucca, or Adam's Needle
Yucca filifera Palma Chuna yucca
Yucca flaccida Flaccid leaf yucca
Yucca glauca Great Plains yucca
Yucca gloriosa Moundlily yucca, Adam's needle, Spanish Dagger
Yucca grandiflora Sahuiliqui yucca
Yucca guatemalensis Spineless yucca
Yucca harrimaniae Harriman's yucca
Yucca intermedia Intermediate Yucca
Yucca jaliscensis Izote
Yucca kanabensis Kanab yucca
Yucca lacandonica Tropical yucca
Yucca madrensis Soco yucca
Yucca nana Dwarf yucca
Yucca pallida Pale yucca
Yucca periculosa Izote
Yucca recurvifolia Curve-leaf yucca
Yucca rigida Blue yucca
Yucca rostrata Beaked yucca, Big Bend yucca
Yucca rupicola Texas yucca, or Twist-leaf yucca
Yucca schidigera Mojave yucca
Yucca schottii Hoary yucca or Mountain yucca
Yucca standleyi
Yucca thompsoniana Thompson's Yucca
Yucca thornberi
Yucca torreyi Torrey yucca
Yucca treculiana Texas bayonette, Trecul's yucca
Yucca valida Datilillo
Yucca yucatana Yucatan yucca

A number of other species previously classified in Yucca are now classified in the genera Dasylirion, Furcraea, Hesperaloe, Hesperoyucca and Nolina.

Taxonomic arrangement

Cultivars

In the years from 1897 to 1907, Carl Ludwig Sprenger created and named 122 Yucca hybrids.

Gallery

References

  1. ^ "Yucca L.". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2010-01-19. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?13004. Retrieved 2010-06-07. 
  2. ^ Chase, M.W.; Reveal, J.L. & Fay, M.F. (2009), "A subfamilial classification for the expanded asparagalean families Amaryllidaceae, Asparagaceae and Xanthorrhoeaceae", Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 161 (2): 132–136, doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00999.x 
  3. ^ Irish, Gary (2000). Agaves, Yuccas, and Related Plants: a Gardener's Guide. Timber Press. p. 18. ISBN 9780881924428. http://books.google.com/books?id=YbVYuq73I0wC&. 
  4. ^ Quattrocchi, Umberto (2000). CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names. 4 R-Z. Taylor & Francis US. p. 2862. ISBN 9780849326783. http://books.google.com/books?id=2ndDtX-RjYkC&. 
  5. ^ Daniels, Jaret C. "Yucca Giant-Skipper Butterfly, Megathymus yuccae (Boisduval & Leconte) (Insecta: Lepidoptera: Hesperiidae)". Electronic Data Information Source. University of Florida IFAS Extension. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in800. Retrieved 2010-06-07. 
  6. ^ "Ursine Giant-Skipper Megathymus ursus Poling, 1902". Butterflies and Moths of North America. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=2192. Retrieved 2010-06-07. 
  7. ^ "Strecker's Giant-Skipper Megathymus streckeri (Skinner, 1895)". Butterflies and Moths of North America. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species?l=2191. Retrieved 2010-06-07. 
  8. ^ Couplan, François (1998). The Encyclopedia of Edible Plants of North America. McGraw Hill Professional. ISBN 9780879838218. http://books.google.com/books?id=tb_qBpULHKcC&. 
  9. ^ Baugh, Dick (1999). "the Miracle of Fire by Friction". In David Wescott. Primitive Technology: A Book of Earth Skills (10 ed.). pp. 32–33. ISBN 9780879059118. http://books.google.com/books?id=HlwUo0IccoMC&. 

External links