Yucca

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Asparagaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Yucca

  • Description

    Genus Description - Large treelike plants, usually with a woody trunk, simple or branched. Leaves crowded at the apex of the trunk or branches, spirally arranged, linear-lanceolate, thick and rigid or sometimes flaccid, usually spine-tipped, the margins filiferous, minutely denticulate or entire. Inflorescence a large, terminal panicle. Flowers white or creamy; perianth 6-parted, bell-shaped, the segments lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate, frequently fleshy, nearly distinct to base; stamens 6, nearly free, shorter than the perianth, with thickened filaments, the anthers short, sagittate, basifixed; ovary superior, sessile or short-stipitate, 3-locular, with numerous to many ovules, the style short, stout, the stigma 3- or 6-lobed. Fruit a dry, dehiscent capsule, 6-valved above, or indehiscent and spongy or pulpy; seeds black, flattened.

  • Distribution

    Approximately 40 species with the center of distribution in the southern United States and Mexico, also occurring in Central America, West Indies, and South America.

    South America| West Indies| Central America| México Mexico North America| United States of America North America|