204 



FOREST TREES OF THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 



appropriate and distinctive than the usual name of " Spanish dagger," which 

 is used for several other yuccas, some of which occur in the same range. It 

 is a low species, chiefly under 10 or 12 feet in height, not often branched, and 

 then with only a few stout limbs. The trunk is seldom over 10 inches in diame- 

 ter and where freed from dead leaves the cross-checked and furrowed bark 



Fig. 81.— Yucca mohavensis: a, base of leaf; b, point of leaf; c, fruit; d, seed. 



is dark umber brown. The general aspect of the tree and the habit of its 

 green and dead leaves are somewhat similar to those of the Joshua tree. Dis- 

 tinctive characters are found in the length and form of the dagger-like leaves 

 and of the fruit. The yellowish green leaves, from 16 to 24 inches long, have 

 bases (fig. 81, a) about 3 inches wide, from which the blade is suddenly nar- 



