''Yucca rupicola'' is a plant in the family

Asparagaceae Asparagaceae, known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, '' Asparagus officinalis''. Those who live in the temperate ...

, known as the twistleaf yucca, twisted-leaf yucca, Texas yucca or twisted-leaf Spanish-dagger. The species was described by

George Heinrich Adolf Scheele George Heinrich Adolf Scheele (1808–1864) was a German botanist and 19th century explorer. He was an expert on spermatophytes Scheele was the first person to classify ''Cucurbita texana''. ;California An important part of his botanical specim ...

in 1850. This is a small,

acaulescent This glossary of botanical terms is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to botany and plants in general. Terms of plant morphology are included here as well as at the more specific Glossary of plant morphology and Glossary o ...

plant with distinctive twisted leaves. It is native to the

Edwards Plateau The Edwards Plateau is a geographic region at the crossroads of Central, South, and West Texas. It is bounded by the Balcones Fault to the south and east, the Llano Uplift and the Llano Estacado to the north, and the Pecos River and Chihua ...

region of

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

and also to northeastern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

(

Coahuila Coahuila (), formally Coahuila de Zaragoza (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Coahuila de Zaragoza ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Coahuila de Zaragoza), is one of the 32 states of Mexico. Coahuila borders the Mexican states of N ...

Nuevo León Nuevo León () is a state in the northeast region of Mexico. The state was named after the New Kingdom of León, an administrative territory from the Viceroyalty of New Spain, itself was named after the historic Spanish Kingdom of León. Wit ...

). ''Yucca rupicola'' forms colonies of rosettes, lacking trunks above-ground but producing a branched

caudex A caudex (plural: caudices) of a plant is a stem, but the term is also used to mean a rootstock and particularly a basal stem structure from which new growth arises.pages 456 and 695 In the strict sense of the term, meaning a stem, "caudex" is ...

under the surface. Leaves are narrowly lanceolate, slightly

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

, twisted, up to 60 cm long but about 40 mm wide at its widest point. Flowers are

pendant A pendant is a loose-hanging piece of jewellery, generally attached by a small loop to a necklace, which may be known as a "pendant necklace". A pendant earring is an earring with a piece hanging down. Its name stems from the Latin word ' ...

(drooping), bell-shaped, white or greenish. Fruit is a dry capsule up to 6 cm long.Engelmann, Georg. 1873. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 3: 48. ''Yucca rupicola'
/ref>

References

External links

photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, ''Yucca rupicola'', collected in Texas in 1900
* * Flora of Coahuila Plants described in 1850 rupicola Flora of Texas Flora of Nuevo León {{Asparagaceae-stub