Yucca gloriosa

(Hidayat, 2017)

Classification of Yucca gloriosa L
Regnum  : Plantae     
Divisio    : Magnoliophyta 
Classis    : Liliopsida     
Ordo       : Liliales         
Familia   : Agavaceae       
Genus     : Yucca         
Spesies   : Yucca gloriosa L

Synonym Name :-

Description 

Spanish dagger (Yucca gloriosa) is an evergreen shrub or small tree forming colonies of rosettes usually with several stems arising from the base, the base thickening in adult specimens. The long sword-like leaves rising from the ground or from woody trunks up to 5 metres long are dark green, spiky and stiff and often razor-sharp, with a pointed brown terminal spine. In midsummer, huge panicles up to 2.5 m long of exquisite pendulous,bell-shaped, white flowers, sometimes tinged purple or red appear, in complete contrast to the leaves, often up to a metre long. These are so long-lasting and so striking in appearance, rich and creamy in texture and heady in fragrance, that the yuccas have long been cultivated in gardens and parks across the world as a feature plant. The fruit is a leathery, elongate berry up to 8 cm long. Yucca gloriosa is probably the most widely grown Yucca species with many cultivars, hybrids and selections.

Blooming season: Yucca gloriosa flowers in late spring to mid summer.

Stems: Plants stay in a stemless clump for several years, but with age a woody trunk or stem may develop and lift the leaves as high as 5 metres (usually much shorter). The stem is simple or ultimately branched.

Leaves: Lanceolate or sword-shaped, flattened, mainly stiff, erect, ascending or recurved, somewhat narrowed towards the base, rigid or flexible, flat or pleated near the tip, smooth, (30-)40-70(-100) and 2-6 cm wide, glaucous when young, dark green or bluish-green when old, margins entire or rarely finely denticulate, opaque, brown, often , often becoming frayed with straight fibers, yellow or brown.

Inflorescences: Paniculate, arising partly within to well beyond rosettes, large, erect, ovoid to ellipsoid 50 - 270 cm tall, to 45 cm broad, glabrous or pubescent. Peduncle scapelike, 90–150 cm long with flowers starting 40-50 cm above the leaves tips.

Flowers: Pendent, globose to campanulate. Pedicels to 2 cm cm long, often arching. Tepals distinct, oblong-lanceolate, 4-5 cm long, 2-2.5 cm wide, greenish-white, cream-coloured or sometimes tinged with purple. Filaments about 2.6 cm long, anthers 3.5 mm long. Pistil light green, 3.6 cm lonh; ovary sessile, 2.8 cm long; style 9 mm long; stigmas separate.

Fruits: Erect or pendent, berry-like, not fleshy and indehiscent, corky-leathery, 6-winged or 6-ribbed, 5.5 - 8 cm long.

Seeds: Black, lustrous, ovate, thin, 5–8 mm in diameter, not winged.

Chromosome number: 2n = 50

(llifel, 2019).

Spot Characters 

Stiff succulen leaves.

Benefit 

Ornamental and medicinal plant.

Distribution

Spain, Florida, Alabama, Uruguay, Turkey, Argentina, and Indonesia.

Location 

UPI Swimming Pool Area

Local Name 

Yuka