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Descriptive Flora 



narrow, usually shorter than the flower stalk. Flowers pale 

 violet or blue, rarely white, about W across, in elongated clusters 

 terminating the simple flower stalk. Sepals and petals 3 each, 

 alike in size and color. Stamens 6. Fruit a 3-angled, 3-celled 

 capsule, broader than long, forming below the flowers as they 

 continue to blossom at the end of the stalk. Well drained slopes 

 of rocky hillsides. Differs from Androstephium in the larger 

 number of smaller blossoms, the longer flower stalk, and the 

 stamens not being united at their bases. The genus Quamasia is 

 the Latinized form of the old Indian name, Quamash. 



DRACENACEAE. Yucca Family. In Small's Flora. 



Yucca ireculeana Carr. Spanish Dagger. Don Quixote's Lance. 



"Pita." 



A palm-like plant sometimes 12' tall, the older plants having 

 a thick trunk with two or three branches from the top of which 

 radiate clusters of straight, stiff, entire, sharp-pointed leaves, 



1 to 2V2' long, 1 to 3" wide at the base and tapering into a sharp, 

 brownish, black-tipped spine. Flower-stalk stout, branched, 



2 to 6' high, coming out of the apex of the stalk and loaded with 

 clusters of large, showy, creamy-white, bell-shaped flowers. 

 Stamens 6. Fruit a heavy, thick-walled, three-celled, oblong, 

 pendant, banana-shaped pod, containing numerous flat seeds. 

 Often cultivated. This is the first of the Yuccas to blossom. One 

 plant was seen in blossom Christmas week, 1920. Mexicans 

 gather these leaves while green, soften them over a flame in the 

 morning, and strip off the edges. The ends of these strips are 

 then tied together before they get dry to make them longer. 

 Used for tying bundles of cornstalks, oats and other fodder. The 

 blossoms are gathered in quantities by Mexicans and cooked and 

 prepared like cabbage. The flowers are also used for pickles. 



Yucca rupicola Scheele. Twisted-leaved Yucca. 



Apparently stemless plants, with a great cluster of stiff, 

 slightly twisted, finely-toothed and brown-margined leaves, 1 to 



