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Flaigg, Norman G.

Yucca baccata

Yucca baccata Torr.

Banana Yucca, Blue Yucca, Fleshy-fruited Yucca, Datil

Agavaceae (Century-Plant Family)

Synonym(s): Yucca baccata var. baccata, Yucca baccata var. vespertina, Yucca confinis, Yucca vespertina

USDA Symbol: yuba

USDA Native Status: L48 (N)

This yucca usually occurs as a single, stemless plant but sometimes grows in clumps with short, reclining stems. The narrow, spine-tipped leaves are up to 30 in. long and occur in an open cluster which is often wider than the leaves are high. The flowering stem is up to 40 in. tall and bears large, pendant, fleshy, white flowers with a red-purple tinge. Fruits are fleshy and banana-shaped. Rigid, spine-tipped leaves in 1 or several rosettes, and a long cluster of large whitish flowers on a stalk about as tall as the leaves.

Identification of the many Yucca species is often difficult. Those with broad leaves are sometimes called Spanish Daggers, a name generally applied to the tree-like species of western Texas. Plain Identification of the many Yucca species is often difficult. Those with broad leaves are sometimes called Spanish Daggers, a name generally applied to the tree-like species of western Texas. Plains Yucca (Y. glauca), common from the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains eastward almost throughout the plains and prairies of the central United States, is a small species with narrow, gray-green leaves.

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