Native Plants
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Tuesday - June 16, 2015
From: Burnet, TX
Region: Southwest
Topic: Propagation, Cacti and Succulents, Wildflowers
Title: Twist-leaf Yucca flowering in Burnet County, TX.
Answered by: Joe Marcus
QUESTION:
I recently moved to Burnet County and our property is full of twist leaf yuccas which are now blooming, but not all are blooming. Why do some twist leaf yuccas bloom and others don't? Are they male female? I have a group of twist leaf yuccas growing in a cluster, do they propagate through the roots? No yucca in this group is blooming, does that have anything do do with how they are propagated? Thanks!ANSWER:
Once mature, a Yucca sp. plant will flower repeatedly, but not necessarily every year. Yuccas produce their large flower-bearing inflorescences using energy stored in their roots in the form of carbohydrates. The energy requirements necessary for flowering are substantial and it often takes a plant more than one year after flowering to recover sufficiently to flower again.
Yuccas increase by both offsets and by seeds. Young plants will not begin flowering until they reach a sufficient stage of maturity and food storage to produce flowers. Yucca flowers are hermaphroditic, having both male and female parts. They are dependent on a single species of moth for pollination and in areas where the moth is rare or absent (such as Austin, TX) yuccas produce flower, but rarely produce fruit.
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