Yucca gigantea
Common names
giant yucca, spineless yucca
Biostatus
Exotic
Conservation status
Not applicable
Category
Vascular
Structural class
Trees & Shrubs - Monocotyledons
Simplified description
An arborescent monocot with a single or multiple stem; leaves firm to rigid but not spine tipped.
Flower colours
White
Similar taxa
Yucca gloriosa is much more common in the wild in NZ than Y. gigantea and it has spine-tipped leaves.
Distribution
An occasional indoor or outdoor plant in NZ. One wild collection of a rooted plant that appeared to have arisen from dumped garden waste.
Detailed taxonomy
Genus
Family
Synonyms
Dracaena lennei Baker; Dracaena yuccoides Baker; Sarcoyucca elephantipes Linding., nom. superfl.; Yucca eleana W.Watson; Yucca elephantipes Regel ex Trel., nom. illeg.; Yucca elephantipes var. ghiesbreghtii Molon; Yucca ghiesbreghtii Baker; Yucca guatemalensis Baker; Yucca lenneana Baker; Yucca mazelii W.Watson; Yucca mooreana Baker; Yucca roezlii Baker
Endemic family
No
Ecology
Year naturalised
2010 (first record was Patea, Taranaki)
Origin
Central America
Reason for introduction
Ornamental
Propagation technique
root suckers, cuttings, seeds
Other information
Etymology
yucca: An name derived from a language in the Carib group, denoting another plant and mistakenly applied to this taxa.
NVS code
The National Vegetation Survey (NVS) Databank is a physical archive and electronic databank containing records of over 94,000 vegetation survey plots - including data from over 19,000 permanent plots. NVS maintains a standard set of species code abbreviations that correspond to standard scientific plant names from the Ngä Tipu o Aotearoa - New Zealand Plants database.
YUCGIG
Referencing and citations
Attribution
Fact sheet prepared by Colin C Ogle, 14 Oct 2016