LILIACE^E 



117 



Distribution. Southwestern Utah to the western and northern rim of the Mohave Desert 

 in California; most abundant and of its largest size on the foothills on the desert slope of 

 the Tehachapi Mountains, California. 



8. Yucca gloriosa L. Spanish Dagger. 



Leaves 2-2| long, gradually narrowed above the broad base and then gradually broad- 

 ened to above the middle, thin, flat or slightly concave toward the apex, frequently 

 longitudinally folded, dull often glaucous green, roughened on the under surface especially 

 above the middle, with a stout dark red tip, and pale margins serrulate toward the base 

 of the leaf, with minute early deciduous teeth, or occasionally separating into thin fibres. 

 Flowers in October, in pubescent or glabrate panicles, 2-4 long, on stout stalks sometimes 



Fig. 113 



t 



3-4 in length, their large creamy white bracts forming before the panicle emerges a con- 

 spicuous egg-shaped bud 4'-6' long; perianth when fully expanded 3^'-4' across, its seg- 

 ments thin, ovate, acute, or lance-ovate, often tinged with green or purple, slightly 

 united at the base, pubescent at apex; stamens about as long as the ovary, with hispid or 

 slightly papillose filaments and deeply emarginate anthers; ovary slightly lobed, 6-sided, 

 light green, gradually narrowed into the elongated spreading stigmatic lobes. Fruit very 

 rarely produced, prominently 6-ridged, pendulous, 3' long, 1' in diameter, cuspidate, raised 

 on a short stout stipe, with a thin leathery almost black outer coat; seeds \' wide and about 

 -$' thick, with a smooth coat and a narrow marginal rim. 



A tree, with a trunk occasionally 6-8 high and 4'-6' in diameter, simple or rarely fur- 

 nished with a few short branches and usually clothed to the base with pendant dead leaves; 

 in cultivation often becoming much larger, with a stout trunk covered with smooth light 

 gray bark, and erect or in one form (var. recurvifolia Engelm.) pendulous leaves. 



Distribution. Sand dunes and the borders of beaches of the seacoast from North Caro- 

 lina to northern Florida. 



Often cultivated with many forms in the gardens and pleasure-grounds of all temperate 

 countries. 



9. Yucca elata Engelm. Spanish Dagger. 

 1. Yucca radiosa Trel. 



Leaves 20'-30' long, \'-\' wide, rigid, gradually narrowed from the thin base, tapering 

 toward the apex, or sometimes somewhat broadest at the middle, thin, flat on the upper 

 surface, slightly thickened and rounded on the lower surface toward the base, smooth, pale 



