Scientific name:
Yucca torreyi
Common name:
Torrey's yucca
Range:
South New Mexico, west Texas
Form:
Long-leaved rosettes; old plants form a trunk, and branch
Habitat:
Grassland, desert flats, open hillsides
Flowers:
Creamy white, growing along a stalk 4 feet high
Leaves of yucca torreyi are bluish or yellowish green in color, long (up to 55 inches), quite rigid, topped by a sharp spine and strongly curved in cross-section. They may be lined by a small number of curly filaments, towards the plant center. Old specimens grow tall (up to 20 feet), the rosettes supported by a woody stem which is covered by a thick blanket of dead leaves, and they branch quite readily.
Torrey's yucca is one of several similar, tree-like yuccas of the Chihuahuan Desert; others include yucca faxoniana (whose leaves are slightly wider, longer, thicker and greener), yucca elata which has much thinner, narrower leaves and yucca thompsoniana, another narrow-leaved species. Some authorities consider yucca torreyi to be a synonym of yucca treculeana.
Torrey's yucca is one of several similar, tree-like yuccas of the Chihuahuan Desert; others include yucca faxoniana (whose leaves are slightly wider, longer, thicker and greener), yucca elata which has much thinner, narrower leaves and yucca thompsoniana, another narrow-leaved species. Some authorities consider yucca torreyi to be a synonym of yucca treculeana.
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