ARIZONA YUCCA
Synonyms:
Yucca verdiensis McKelvey, Yuccas SW U.S. 2: 98-102, t.
35 (1947)
Yucca elata var. verdiensis (McKelvey) Reveal, Intermountain
Flora 6: 533-534 (1977)
Type location:
Between Clarkdale and Cottonwood, Yavapai Co. Arizona
Distribution:
Sandy soil, in mountain valleys of central Arizona (Yavapai Co., Gila
Co., Navajo Co.), notably in regions to the Verde River and it's tributaries.
900 to 2000 m.
Short description of the species:
Like Yucca elata ssp. elata but with a few differences:
Plants acaulescent or at most with short inconspicuous stems,
forming eventually medium sized clumps with a variable number of stems
and rosettes of leaves. Leaves 25 to 45 cm long, usually 4 to 7
mm wide (occasionally up to 13 mm wide), usually plano-convex for greater
part of length, Leaf margin white, with many long fibers. Inflorescens
paniculate sometimes unstable in form but most often with a few long. wide-spreading
basal branchlets and long up to 280 cm tall, conspicuous racemose tip.
Flowers
campanulata (bell-shaped) 4 to 4,5 cm long, white to cream colored. Pistil
20
to 25 mm long. Fruit 40 to 45 mm long, 25 mm thick with thin fragile
wall and smooth epidermis (very similar to Yucca
angustissima, but less often constricted). Flower from May to June
in habitat. Seeds
Hardiness:
Not known, I have a plant of Yucca elata ssp. verdiensis
planted inside in an unheated greenhouse. And a plant that are planted
in one of my protected beds (protected against winter moisture from October
to May), so far both plants are doing OK.
Pictures:
#759A & 759B Yucca elata ssp. verdiensis. (Those
plants may "just" be Yucca elata!)
Grown from seeds collected at Mt. Mescal Pinal Co., Arizona. Seeds
from Christa's Cactus # CR158, sown 1992.
Both plants are the same age, but they have been grown in a large 25
liter pot and a small 10 liter pot that's what makes the difference!
Reference:
HOCHSTAETTER, Cactaceae-Review, Germany, 1 (2):21, 1998.
HOCHSTAETTER, F; (2000), YUCCA (vol. I): 50-51 (Yucca elata ssp.
verdiensis)
REVEAL, Intermountain Flora, Vascular Plants of the Intermountain
West, 533-534, 1977, USA.
MCKELVEY, Yuccas of the southwestern United States, (Vol. 2): 98-102,
1947, USA.
WEBBER, Agric. Monograph U.S.D.A. 17:62-65 (1953) (Yucca
verdiensis as a syn for Yucca glauca
x Yucca elata)
Copyright © 1998-2009
Benny Møller Jensen
Hjørring
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