DRACAENACEAE 273 
FAMILY 6. DRACAENACEAE Link. Yucca FAMILY. 
Shrubby plants or trees, with woody caudices which are generally copiously 
leafy. Leaves alternate: blades narrow, firm or rigid, sometimes with marginal 
filaments, often finely toothed. Floweisin racemes or panicles terminating scapes 
or scape-like stems.  Perianth usually not colored. Sepals and petals 3 each, 
but little dissimilar. Androecium of 6 stamens. Filaments distinct, sometimes 
partially adnate to the perianth. Anthers 2-celled. Gynoecium of 3 united car- 
pels. Ovary superior, 1-3-celled. Styles united, sometimes very short or obso- 
lete during anthesis, but manifest in fruit. Ovules 2-severai, or many in each 
cavity. Fruit a primarily loculicidal capsule, or berry-like and indehiscent. 
Flowers perfect. L YUCOA- 
Flowers dioecious or polygamo-dioecious. 
Flowers polygamo-dioecious, in open panicles: ovary 3-celled : stamens included. 2. NoLina. 
Flowers dioecious, in dense panicles: ovary 1-celled : stamens exserted. 3. DASYLIRION. 
1. YUCCA L. 
Large scapose or caulescent plants, with short or elongated, sometimes horizontal, root- 
stocks. Leaves firm or rarely thinnish : blades rather narrow, rigidly pointed, commonly 
furnished with thread-like fibers along the edges, serrulate or entire. Flowers in terminal 
racemes or panicles. Perianth usually white, drooping, subglobose to campanulate : sepals 
and petals distinct or slightly united at the base. Stamens 6, hypogynous: filaments 
enlarged above, shorter than the perianth. Ovary 3-celled, or imperfectly 6-celled or 1- 
celled : style columnar or tumid. Ovules numerous in each cavity. Capsule dehiscent, or 
berry-like and indehiscent. Seeds flattened or turgid. 
Fruit an erect, dry dehiscent capsule. 
Leaf-blades with several marginal fibers. 
Style columnar, white. 
Leaves b ead of a lanceolate or spatulate type, marked with gray or brown near the mar- 
ginal fibers. 
Leaf-blades short-attenuate : capsule evenly narrowed to the apex, the carpels evenly convex. 
l. Y. filamentosa. 
Leaf-blades long-attenuate: capsule truncately narrowed to the apex, 
the carpels uneven or angulate. . Y. flaccida. 
Leaves with blades of a linear type, white-margined. 
Leaves pliable, grass-like, mostly recurved : sepals oblong or elliptic. 3. Y. tenuistyla. 
Leaves rigid, stiffly spreading: sepals oval or oval-ovate. 4. Y. constrictá. 
Style turgid, green. 
Flowers in racemes or almost sessile panicles. 
Leaves rigid, stiffly spreading. 5. Y. glauca. 
Leaves pliable, erect or laxly spreading. 6. Y. Arkansana. 
Flowers in long-stalked panicles. 7. Y. Louisianensis. 
Leaf-blades with markedly horny rough-serrulate yellow or brown margins. 8. Y. rupicola. 
Fruit à drooping pulpy indehiscent berry-like capsule, or erect in Y. recurvifolia. 
Seeds thin, bars pet margined : endosperm not ruminated. 
Leaves rigid, stiffly erect or spreading: capsule 6-ribbed : seeds lustrous. 9. Y. gloriosa. 
Leaves pliable, recurving: capsule 6-winged : seeds dull. 10. Y. recurvifolia. 
Seeds turgid, essentially marginless: endosperm ruminated. 
Ovary stalked: fruit with a purple pulp and coreless: leaves horny and den- ; 
ticulate on the border. 11. Y. aloifolia. 
ibis i sessile: fruit with a greenish or yellowish pulp and a papery core: 
eaves more or less filiferous, 12. Y. Treculeana. 
1. Yucca filamentósa L. Caudex short: leaves firm, 3-6 dm. long, stiffly erect or 
spreading, mostly over 2-5 em. wide, constricted above the base, abruptly acute or some- 
times rather attenuate, the marginal fibers relatively coarse and curly: flowering stalk 
1.5-4 m. tall: panicle-branches usually glabrous: perianth white or cream-colored : sepals 
and petals 4-5 cm. long: capsules 5-6 cm. long, the carpels even in ripening : seeds lus- 
trous, about 7 mm. long. 
In dry or sandy soil, North Carolina to Florida and Mississippi. Spring and summer. 
2. Yucca flaccida Haw. Similar to Y. filamentosa in habit, but less rigid. Leaves elon- 
gated, 1-4 em. wide, long-attenuate, pliable, the outer ones recurved, all with long straight 
marginal fibers : panicle-branches pubescent : sepals and petals relatively broad : capsules 
6-7 cm. long, the carpels irregularly flattened in patches while ripening, constricted near 
the middle at maturity.: seeds dull, 8-10 mm. long. 
b Se dry or stony slopes, in and near the mountains, North Carolina to Alabama. Spring and 
er. 
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