Thompson's Yucca

Yucca thompsoniana occurs in the trans-Pecos area of Texas. J. M. Webber (1953) characterized it as a dwarflike form of Y. rostrata, and the differences are perhaps not sufficient to merit separate recognition. Webber also suggested that it may hybridize with Y. reverchonii.

Plants solitary or forming colonies of rosettes, caulescent, arborescent, mostly asymmetrical, 0.7–2.5 m, not including inflorescence, to 30 cm diam.; rosettes each with more than 100 leaves. Stems 1, erect, 1–3-branched. Leaf blade linear, flat or concavo-convex or slightly keeled, widest at or above middle, 20–30(–45) × 0.7–1.2 cm, flexible, ± scabrous adaxially and abaxially, margins denticulate, yellow or orangish red, corneous, apex sharp-pointed. Inflorescences paniculate, racemose at apex, arising beyond rosettes, 5–8 dm; branches to 2 dm; bracts erect, 10–13(–17) cm; peduncle sometimes scapelike, (0.3–)0.4–0.7 m, 1.3–2 cm diam., glabrous or glabrescent. Flowers pendent; perianth globose to campanulate; tepals distinct, white, narrowly elliptic, 3.5–6.5 × 1.2–3.5 cm, glossy, apex sharply acuminate; filaments 1.7–3.3 cm; pistil 2.5–3.8 × 0.4–0.8 cm; style white, 6–18 mm; stigmas lobed. Fruits erect, capsular, dehiscent, ovoid, rarely constricted, 3.5–7 × 2–2.5 cm, dehiscence septicidal. Seeds dull black, thin, 6–8 mm diam.

Tex.; n Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila).

Flowering spring.

Rocky slopes and hills; 200--1400m.

Yucca thompsoniana, the Thompson's yucca, is a plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to Texas, Chihuahua and Coahuila. Other names for the plant include Beaked yucca, Soyate and Palmita.

Yucca thompsoniana has a trunk up to 1 m tall, branching above the ground. It flowers before there is any trunk at all, but continues to flower after the stem begins to grow. Leaves are narrow and dagger-like, a bit glaucous, up to 35 cm long and 10 mm wide. Inflorescence is a panicle about 100 cm high. Flowers are white, about 4 cm long and appear in late March through early May. Fruit is a dry, egg-shaped capsule.

The plant was first collected in Chihuahua by John Bigelow in 1852 and was described by William Trelease in 1911.