''Yucca baccata'' (datil yucca or banana yucca, also known as Spanish bayonet and broadleaf yucca)
is a common species of
yucca
''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial plant, perennial shrubs and trees in the family (biology), family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their Rosette (botany), rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped Leaf, ...
native to the
desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About on ...
s of the
southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...
and northwestern
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
, from southeastern
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
north to
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
, east to western
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
and south to
Sonora
Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...
and
Chihuahua. It is also reported in the wild in
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
.
The species gets its common name "banana yucca" from its
banana-shaped
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particu ...
. The specific epithet ''baccata'' means 'with berries'. Banana yucca is closely related to the ''
Yucca schidigera
''Yucca schidigera'', also known as the Mojave yucca or Spanish dagger, is a flowering plant native to the southwest deserts of North America.
Description
''Yucca schidigera'' is a small evergreen tree growing to tall, with a dense crown of sp ...
'', the Mojave yucca, with which it is interspersed where their ranges overlap;
hybrids between them occur.
Description
''Yucca baccata'' is recognized by having
leaves
A leaf (plural, : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant plant stem, stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", wh ...
long
with a blue-green color, and short or nonexistent trunks. It flowers in the spring, starting in April to July depending on locality (altitude), and the
flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechani ...
s range from long, in six segments,
white to cream-coloured with purple shades. The flower stalk is not especially tall, typically . The seeds are rough, black, wingless, long and wide, thick; they ripen in 6–8 weeks. The
indehiscent
Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part; structures that op ...
fleshy fruit is long and across, cylindrical, and tastes similar to
sweet potato
The sweet potato or sweetpotato (''Ipomoea batatas'') is a dicotyledonous plant that belongs to the Convolvulus, bindweed or morning glory family (biology), family, Convolvulaceae. Its large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous roots are used as a r ...
.
Subspecies
''Yucca baccata'' has been divided into three subspecies:
*''Yucca baccata'' subsp. ''baccata''—Datil Yucca, Banana Yucca
*''Yucca baccata'' subsp. ''thornberi''
(McKelvey) Hochstätter—Thornber's Yucca
*''Yucca baccata'' subsp. ''vespertina''
(McKelvey) Hochstätter—Mohave Datil Yucca
Distribution and habitat
The plant is known from the
Great Basin
The Great Basin is the largest area of contiguous endorheic basin, endorheic watersheds, those with no outlets, in North America. It spans nearly all of Nevada, much of Utah, and portions of California, Idaho, Oregon, Wyoming, and Baja California ...
, the
Mojave,
Sonoran, and
Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lo ...
s, plus the ''
Arizona/New Mexico Mountains ecoregion
The Arizona/New Mexico Mountains ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the U.S. states of Arizona and New Mexico.
Description
The region is a transition region from the lower ...
'' and lower, southern parts of the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
. It occurs primarily in the US states of
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
,
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
,
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
,
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
, and
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, and the Mexican state of
Chihuahua. It can be found in several habitat types including
Pinyon-Juniper, desert grassland,
Creosote bush scrub Creosote bush scrub is a North American desert vegetation type (or biome) of sparsely but evenly spaced desert plants dominated by creosote bush (''Larrea tridentata'') and its associates. Its visual characterization is of widely spaced shrubs tha ...
,
sagebrush
Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia''. The best known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrushes are native to the North American west.
Following is an alph ...
, and
ponderosa pine
''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is the ...
colonies at
elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Vert ...
s generally between .
It is associated with ''
Yucca schidigera
''Yucca schidigera'', also known as the Mojave yucca or Spanish dagger, is a flowering plant native to the southwest deserts of North America.
Description
''Yucca schidigera'' is a small evergreen tree growing to tall, with a dense crown of sp ...
'', ''
Yucca brevifolia
''Yucca brevifolia'' is a plant species belonging to the genus ''Yucca''. It is tree-like in habit, which is reflected in its common names: Joshua tree, yucca palm, tree yucca, and palm tree yucca.
This monocotyledonous tree is native to the ar ...
'', ''
Yucca arizonica
''Yucca'' is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40–50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flo ...
'', ''
Yucca faxoniana'', ''
Agave utahensis'', and other ''
Agave
''Agave'' (; ; ) is a genus of monocots native to the hot and arid regions of the Americas and the Caribbean, although some ''Agave'' species are also native to tropical areas of North America, such as Mexico. The genus is primarily known for ...
'' species. It can be found among ''
Sclerocactus
''Sclerocactus'' ("hard cactus", from Greek; refers to the hard, dry fruit) is a genus of cacti. It comprises about 15 species, the exact number depending on the authority. These species are very xerophytic. They are sometimes called 'fishhook ...
'', ''
Pediocactus
''Pediocactus'' (Greek: πεδίον (pedion) means "plain", "flat", "field") is a genus of cacti. The genus comprises between 6 and 11 species, depending upon the authority. Species of this genus are referred to as hedgehog cacti, though that ...
'', ''
Navajoa
''Pediocactus'' (Greek: πεδίον (pedion) means "plain", "flat", "field") is a genus of cacti. The genus comprises between 6 and 11 species, depending upon the authority. Species of this genus are referred to as hedgehog cacti, though that ...
'', and ''
Toumeya'' species.
The plant occurs in a large area of the North American deserts and exhibits much variation across its range. ''Yucca baccata'' specimens from the higher, mountainous regions of the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico in ...
is winterhardy and tolerates extreme conditions.
Ecology
It is a larval host to the
ursine giant skipper,
yucca giant skipper, and various yucca moths (''Proxodus'' sp.).
[The Xerces Society (2016), ''Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects'', Timber Press.] After feeding, the skippers pupate in the yucca's roots.
Uses
The young flower stalks can be cooked and eaten, with the tough outer rind discarded. The fruit can be eaten raw or cooked,
in the latter case resembling sweet potato.
The
Paiutes dried the fruits for use during the winter. It is still a popular food amongst Mexican Indians.
The flowers are often eaten by rural residents.
Ancestral Puebloan
The Ancestral Puebloans, also known as the Anasazi, were an ancient Native American culture that spanned the present-day Four Corners region of the United States, comprising southeastern Utah, northeastern Arizona, northwestern New Mexico, an ...
peoples used the fibers derived from the leaves to create sandals and cordage, and the root was used as soap, although with less frequency than that of ''
Yucca elata
''Yucca elata'' is a perennial plant, with common names that include soaptree, soaptree yucca, soapweed, and palmella. It is native to southwestern North America, in the Sonoran Desert and Chihuahuan Desert in the United States (western Texas, N ...
.''
References
Further reading
* Fritz Hochstätter (Hrsg.): '' Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 1 Dehiscent-fruited species in the Southwest and Midwest of the USA, Canada and Baja California '', Selbst Verlag, 2000.
* Fritz Hochstätter (Hrsg.): '' Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 2 Indehiscent-fruited species in the Southwest, Midwest and East of the USA'', Selbst Verlag. 2002.
* Fritz Hochstätter (Hrsg.): '' Yucca (Agavaceae). Band 3 Mexico '', Selbst Verlag, 2004.
Common names of yucca species* Di
Fritz Hochstätter
* Yucca
Verbreitungskarte I Fritz Hochstätter
Flora of North America: ''Yucca baccata''RangeMap
Jepson Flora Project: ''Yucca baccata''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yucca Baccata
Yucca, baccata
North American desert flora
Flora of the Southwestern United States
Flora of Northwestern Mexico
Plants described in 1859
Taxa named by John Torrey
Desert fruits
Drought-tolerant plants