CONTRIBUTIONS TO WESTERN EOTA>; i Wt-. 1 59 



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' r Brandegee has much the same habit, and doubtless is a form of Y. 

 ..istralis, which belongs to th macrocarpa group with edible pods. 



Yucca Whipple! Torrey,. I fail to see any good reason for relegating 

 ■lis species to a separate genus. It is in every respect a good Yucca, and 

 lost magnificent one of them all. The typical form of the species was 

 ot at San Pasqual, which is east of Escondido, California. I have visited 

 lat locality and studied the plant there. Unfortunately the form tliere is 

 itermediate between the tv;o most abundant forms in Caiifomia, both 

 .jf which would ordinarily receive specific names. In order to keep these 

 forms separate I propose tlie following names, based on habit: 



Yucca Whipple! var. Parishii. n. var. Plants with biennial habit, 

 ■-hat is dying as soon as flowering and not stolonifcrous. Leaves flat and 

 • idcst in the middle, often an inch wide and 2 feet long, peduncles often 

 '0 feet long and 4 inches thick, with a flov/er cluster 10 feet long in 

 , addition. Pods erect, rather oblong. This is the common form at low 

 elevations on the Pacific slope, seldom if ev<r found on the desert side, 

 Y, graminifolia Wood is also an intermediate form which occurs at times 

 on the lower hills. 



Yucca Whipplei var. caespitosa n. var. Plants conspicuously caespitosc 

 with many crowns. Leaves triquetrous and long-linear, rarely over ^}i inch 

 wide. Peduncles a few feet long, the flower cluster about as long, whole 

 rarely 6 feet long. This is the common desert form and runs over the 

 crest of the ridges at Cajon pass, extending from near Owen's valley 

 southward into Mexico. The flowers of all the fomis are normally white, 

 but occasionally are purple-tinged. The species when in flower is alive 

 with the little prcnuba moths. This plant should be the state flower of 

 Caiifomia. 



Yucca brevifolia Eng. Y. arborescens (Torr.) Trelease. This specie:* 

 shows a variation from all other Yuccas in the thickened pitals and in 

 the very disagreeable odor of the flowers. The flower cluster is a very 

 dense ovate or oval mass a foot or two long and sessile among the leaves^ 

 and greenish-white in color. The heads bloom mostly in April at 3,000 

 to 4,000 feet altitude. The flowers are so congested that they appear 

 erect} and they never seem to open more than enough to let insects in. The 

 bracts are small, white, and hyaline and do not show till the flowers fall. 

 The outer perianth parts, 3, are broadly linear, fleshy and blunt and 

 thickened at the tip to 2-4 mm. thick. The inner parts are elliptical and 

 also thickened. The leaves are widest at base and very rigid and^ bluish, 

 tapering to the very sharp tip. The trees are usually 15-20 feet high and 

 sometimes 3 feet in diameter. The leaves fall off after a few years and 

 leave swabs of them on the ends of the stems. 



Yucca australis var. valida (Brandegee) Y. valida Brandegee. The 

 status of this species is still in doubt. To all appearances it is only a 

 form of Y. australis, growing in more desert places. It has very little 

 relationship to Y. brevifolia, whose pod.^ are not fleshy but dry and car- 

 tilaginous w:hen ripe. It was my good fortune to get ripe pods of the 

 common Yucca of the Cape region near Todos Santos, which is Y. aus- 

 tralis and can be separated at once from Y. baccata by the flat, short, 



