Yucca flaccida Haw.

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Yucca flaccida' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/yucca/yucca-flaccida/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

Genus

Synonyms

  • Y. filamentosa var. flaccida (Haw.) Engelm.
  • Y. puberula Haw.
  • Y. meldensis Engelm.

Glossary

apex
(pl. apices) Tip. apical At the apex.
capsule
Dry dehiscent fruit; formed from syncarpous ovary.
glaucous
Grey-blue often from superficial layer of wax (bloom).
lax
Loose or open.
panicle
A much-branched inflorescence. paniculate Having the form of a panicle.

References

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Credits

Article from Bean's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles

Recommended citation
'Yucca flaccida' from the website Trees and Shrubs Online (treesandshrubsonline.org/articles/yucca/yucca-flaccida/). Accessed 2024-03-29.

A low evergreen shrub, whose stem, like that of Y. filamentosa, does not arise above ground-level, spreading by sucker growths. Leaves 1 to 134 ft long, 1 to 112 in. wide, green or glaucous, and bent downwards above the middle, long-pointed with straightish, thread-like fibres separating from the margin, and 2 in. or more long. Flowers as in Y. filamentosa, but borne on a downy, shorter panicle. Seeds dull, 13 in. long, produced in a capsule 2 to 3 in. long.

Native of the southeastern USA from N. Carolina to Alabama, with a more inland distribution than Y. filamentosa and Y. smalliana; introduced from Georgia and described by Haworth in 1819 from plants cultivated in his garden at Chelsea. The bent back apices of the leaves and the straighter marginal threads distinguish it from the two species mentioned, but its affinity is with Y. smalliana rather than with Y. filamentosa, having the leaves gradually tapered to the apex as in that species, and a usually downy panicle. It is rather more vigorous than either of its allies, and perhaps freer flowering, but its lax leaves can be damaged by wind.


f. Integra Trel.

Synonyms
Y. glauca Sims
Bot. Mag ., t. 2662, not Nutt

Leaf margins without fibres; leaves smaller. Flower-stalks glabrous.

'Golden Sword'

leaves banded with creamy yellow at the centre.

'Ivory'

A very free-flowering clone, selected by the late Rowland Jackman from a batch of seedlings. Unlike some forms of Y. flaccida the flowers are poised horizontally, as they were in the original introduction. It received an Award of Merit in 1966 when shown by S. M. Gault, who made this yucca a feature of the Queen Mary’s Garden in Regent’s Park. It received a First Class Certificate two years later.

'Orchioides'

A depauperate form with an unbranched inflorescence; leaves stiffer and more erect than normal. A seedling raised in France (Y. orchioides Carr.; Y. flaccida f. orchioides (Carr.) Trel.).

var. major (Bak.) Rehd.

Synonyms
Y. orchioides major Bak.
Y. flaccida var. glaucescens (Haw.) Trel.
Y. glaucescens Haw

Leaves glaucous, broader, rather more erect. Panicle very downy. Petals more attenuate. According to Trelease, this is the form of Y. flaccida commonly cultivated in American gardens. It was introduced to Britain in 1816.