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Yucca arkansana TRELEASE
In Rep. Missouri Bot. Gard. 13: 63, tt. 30, 31 83, fig. 7, 92, fig. 2 (range map) 1902.

Synonyms:
Yucca angustifolia var. mollis ENGELMANN in Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, 3: 51 (1873).
Yucca glauca mollis BRANNER & COVILLE, Ann. Rept. Geol. Surv. Arkansas for 1888, 4: 224.
Yucca glauca var. mollis Engelmann ex Branner & Coville, Ann.  Rep. Geol.  Surv.  Arkansas 1888 (4):  274 (1891)
Yucca mollis (Engelmann) Cockerell, Nature 69: 198 (1903)

Invalided published names:
Yucca glauca var. arkansana, (Nom. ival., art. 30.3), Mesa Garden seed list..

Varieties or subspecies:
Yucca arkansana ssp. louisianensis
Yucca arkansana ssp. freemanii

Type location:
ENGELMANN 182 (May 1873) Near Little Rock, Arkansas.

Distribution:
South, Central, North and East Texas, Central, North East Oklahoma and West to South West Arkansas. Yucca plants in Iowa (Loess Hills) and Missouri has been reported to be Yucca arkansana and not Yucca glauca!

Short description of the species:

Plant: acaulescent, or with short almost prostate stem (up to 15 cm in length), one or several rosettes of leaves. Leaves: dark green, rather soft to stiff and sometimes recurving, lanceolate, long-attenuate (narrow leaves) or acute (broad leaves) (plants from the eastern part of the distribution are softer with even wider and thinner leaves, almost like Yucca flaccida, but usually not bending under their own weight, and plants from western Oklahoma and adjacent Texas look a lot like Yucca glauca, but the leaves are thinner and wider and more flexible.) they are often a little scabrous on the back, up to 50 cm long and 1 to 2,5 cm wide. The edge of the leaves are scarcely pungent, white margined and finely filiferous. Inflorescens: glabrous, 60 to 100 cm high (rarely up to 130 cm high), racemose or rarely with a few branches. Scape 25 to 50 cm (or rarely up to 60 cm) starting from between the leaves. Flowers: campanulate (bell shaped) with mostly greenish-white broad and obtuse segments. Style: green, usually very tumid below. Capsule: little flaring, smooth. Seeds: dull, 0,7-0,8 X 1 cm.

#454C Yucca arkansana fruit 9 days from pollination, the label is to indicate which species the plant was pollinated with (#1465A Yucca filamentosa?)
The plant is grown from seeds collected in Beckam Co., Oklahoma, DJF1316, sown 1992, first flowers in July 2003.

Seeds of #1358 Yucca arkansana, Texas, Amarillo area, 1000 m., fh 1180.98, sown 2000.

Hardiness:

I don't have had long experience with Yucca arkansana, most of my plants are grown in large pots that are outside during the summer, and inside an unheated greenhouse from October 1th. to May 1th. So far this has worked OK. I have a single plant that has been growing in a raised bed (protected against winter moisture from October 1th. to May 1th.) this one did do OK until the very wet winter 1999-2000, that winter the rosette died, but the rhizomes has put up a beautiful new rosette.

Pictures:

I don't have any pictures of Yucca arkansana in habitat yet, but if anyone has pictures that I may use please let me know I would be very happy to use them.

My Own Yucca arkansana:
(there are pictures of the plants with hypertext)

#454A Yucca arkansana, Oklahoma, Beckam Co., DJF1316, sown 1992
#454B Yucca arkansana, Oklahoma, Beckam Co.  DJF1316, sown 1992
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#454C Yucca arkansana, Oklahoma, Beckam Co. DJF1316, sown 1992, first flowers in July 2003., the label is to indicate which species the plat was pollinated with (#1465A Yucca filamentosa?) The fruit on the left picture is taken 9 days from pollination. Unfortunately did the fruit abort, so I did not get any hybrid seeds this time!
 

#870A Yucca arkansana, Oklahoma, Beckam Co., 500 m., fh 605.5, sown 1998.
#870B Yucca arkansana, Oklahoma, Beckam Co., 500 m., fh 605.5, sown 1998.
#870C Yucca arkansana, Oklahoma, Beckam Co., 500 m., fh 605.5, sown 1998.

#1050 Yucca arkansana, Oklahoma, Beaver River, 1300 m., fh 1179.2, sown 2000
#1118 Yucca arkansana, Texas, Ady, 1060 m., fh1179.48, sown 2000
#1358 Yucca arkansana, Texas, amarillo area 1.000 m.,  fh 1180.98, sown 2000
#1359 Yucca arkansana, Texas, Denton creek tx 750 m., fh 1180.99, sown 2000

Reference:

BRANNER & COVILLE, Ann. Rept. Geol. Surv. Arkansas for 1888, 4: 224. (Yucca glauca mollis)
COCKERELL, Nature 69: 198 (1903) (Yucca mollis (Engelmann))
ENGELMANN, Trans. Acad. Sci. St. Louis, 3: 50 (1873). (Yucca angustifolia var. mollis)
FERGUSON, D. J., in personal correspondence.
HOCHSTAETTER, F., Cactaceae-Review IRT 1 (2):  21 (1998)
HOCHSTAETTER, F., Kaktusbluete, Germany, 16:25-29, 1999. (Yucca arkansana)
HOCHSTAETTER, F., Yucca In the Southwest and Midwest of the USA and Canada, vol. 1: 58-59 (2000) (Yucca arkansana)
HOCHSTAETTER, Indra., email to Hardycacti_etc  Mon., 19 Jun 2000 12:23:06 -0700 (PDT). (Yucca arkansana in Iowa and Missouri)
MCKELVEY, Yuccas southwest. U.S. 2:149-156 (1947) (Yucca arkansana)
TRELEASE, Rep. Missouri Bot. Gard. 13: 63, tt. 30, 31 83, fig. 7, 92, fig. 2 (range map) 1902. (Yucca arkansana)