Mohave Yucca 



157 



6. TORREY'S YUCCA - Yucca Torreyi Shafer 



Yucca macrocarpa Coville 

 Yucca baccata macrocarpa Torrey, not Yucca macrocarpa Engelmann 



A much-branched tree of the desert reigon from western Texas westward 

 through New Mexico into eastern Arizona, and southward in Chihuahua. 



The leaves are yellowish green, 0.5 to i meter long, 4 cm. wide, gradually nar- 

 rowed above the dark 

 shining base, widest near 

 the middle, rough be- 

 neath, sometimes so 

 above, the apex armed 

 with a stout, long, dark- 

 colored spine, the mar- 

 gin thickened and freely 

 separating into coarse 

 grayish threads. The 

 flowers appear in March 

 and April in dense, ses- 

 sile, or nearly sessile, 

 smooth panicles, the 

 bracts often brownish; 

 perianth 4 cm. long, the 

 segments acute, the 

 outer similar to the 

 inner; stamens shorter 

 than the style, which is 



Fig. 117. Torrey's Yucca. 



somewhat elongated. The fruit is oblong, 7.5 to 10 cm. long, about haK as thick, 

 rounded at the base, contracted into a stout projection at the apex; its flesh is 

 sweet and juicy; seeds thin and flat, 6 to 8 mm. long, with a narrow rim. 



7. MOHAVE YUCCA Yucca mohavensis Sargent 



This tree, Hke the other arborescent Yuccas, is also called Spanish dagger or 

 Spanish bayonet. In general appearance it is similar to the foregoing species, but 

 its range is very different, occurring in the Mohave desert, in the region from south- 

 em Nevada and western Arizona into southern California south of Monterey; also 

 in adjacent Lower California. Its maximum height is 4.5 meters with a trunk 

 diameter of 2 dm.; but it often remains low and quite trunkless. 



The trunk is usually simple, rarely having several stout spreading branches. 

 The rind, sometimes exposed at the base of the trunk, is dark brown and roughish. 

 The leaves, which often cover the trunk to the ground, are light green, smooth, 



