Yucca nana Hochstätter, in habitat.
Photo by Fritz Hochstätter ©1998.

In 1998 did Fritz Hochstätter describe a new species in the genus Yucca, the species Yucca nana (Succulenta 77 (2):72, 1998). The first time this plant occur in the literature is in 1985, in an article by Robert Haenni, in the American Cactus society's journal. Robert Haenni (Denver Colorado) and his friend Allan Taylor (Colorado) was in January 1985 on a plant trip to the Northern part of Arizona and in adjacent Nevada and Utah. In the southern Utah south of Moab, they discovered their first real find, a dwarf form from the genus Yucca, the largest rosettes wasn't more than 45 cm across and only 10 to 15 cm tall. A few of the oldest plants where clumps of plants which was almost 100 cm across. This species was not given a name until 13 years later, when Fritz Hochstätter in the mean time had found the plants on one of his many "hunting trips" for Pediocactus and Sclerocactus. As usually did Fritz Hochstätter published this  "new" species in the Dutch journal Succulenta.

In the following I will try to summarize the most important facts on the species, and my own (although very short) experience with this species.

Yucca nana Hochstätter

DWARF YUCCA.

Synonyms:
Yucca sp. Rod Haenni, Cactus & Succulent journal (US) 57:170, fig.  2 (1985), south of Moab Utah.

Type location:
Southern Utah, in 2.075 m. (type specimen fh 1178.78 is deposit at SRP (Herbario Boise, Idaho, USA)), there are not given an exact location, this is done to protect the species for massive collection, so the species is protected against extinction, while there aren't many plants at the type location. (Fritz Hochstätter do though have had seeds from the type location, on his seed list since 1998!!)

Distribution and growing conditions:

Yucca nana is endemic to Great Basin Desert, in southern Utah in 1600 - 2075 m. They grow on gravely and sandy slopes in open pine woods, in the what is called Sagebrush vegetation. The Sagebrush vegetation area, is dominated by the Genus's Artemisia and Atriplex, and here Yucca nana grows together with Sclerocactus parviflorus, Echinocereus and Opuntia species. The distribution of Yucca nana is apparently very bounded, and most of the plants grows in Glen Canyon, at this location and in the nearby area, Fritz Hochstätter will make more expeditions, to map the further distribution of this nice little dwarf species.

Description of the species:

Rosettes: is solitary or clustering, up to 65 (occasionally 80) cm across. It makes plantlets, doesn't have a stem. Roots: rhizome system that's growing laterally. Leaves: Stiff and erect, up to 20 cm long, convex (bending outwards), dark green, smooth, with many fibers at the edge of the leaves, leaves is a little less wide at the start. Brownish spine at the leaf tip, at the basis less than 1 cm wide. Flower racemen: normally upright, succulent, more than 100 cm tall, not branched. 1 to 3 flowers on each branchlet, normally 20 branchlet on each racemen. Flowers: is bell shaped, white, outer petals are 3 - 4 cm long, 1,5 -2,5 cm wide, inner petals are 2,8 - 3,5 cm long, 1,8 - 2,8 cm wide. Style: cream, 1 cm long. Anther: white, cream or almost greenish. Stamen: greenish 0,5 cm. Ovary: greenish 1,5 cm long and 0,5 cm across. Ovary superior 6 (occasionally 8) cream to greenish. Fruit: Globose to Ovoid, is green when in growth, but when the seeds is ripe it's woody and splits open, Yucca nana belong to the "dehiscent fruited species" in the section CHAENOCARPA , the fruit is 3 - 4 cm long, 2 - 3 cm across, the ripe woody fruit is 4 - 5 cm when it's split open, and 2 - 2,5 cm when it's not open. Seeds: black, flat, has a rugged surface that's a little hemispherical, they can be variable in shape and are from 0,4 to 0,9 cm long and wide, the seeds remains viable for years. Flowering time in habitat: from the end of april to June.

Related species:

Yucca harrimaniae
Yucca harrimaniae ssp. gilbertiana
Yucca harrimaniae ssp. neomexicana
Yucca harrimaniae ssp. sterilis

The closest relative is Yucca harrimaniae which grows rather near Yucca nana, but differs by having longer leaves (more than 20 cm), and the flower racemen is shorter (less than 100 cm). Yucca nana has flowers that are pure white, while they are off-white to cream or even brownish in Yucca harrimaniae.

My own experience with Yucca nana:

Since the species is rather new in cultivation, do I not have had the possibility to make growing experiment with this little dwarf Yucca. But I have sown seeds from all known locations:

#893      Yucca nana, Mill Creek area, Utah, fh 1178.77, sown 1998 and more in 1999.
#894      Yucca nana, Type location, 2075 m., southern Utah, fh 1178.78, sown 1998
#1067    Yucca nana, Muddy Creek, Utah, 2110 m., fh 1179.39, sown 1999
#1068    Yucca nana, Limestone Cliffs, Utah, 2040 m. fh 1179.52, sown 1999
#1069    Yucca nana, Sinbad Co. Utah, 2000 m., fh 1179.53, sown 1999

Hardiness:
Since the species is growing at an altitude from 1600 to 2000 m., do I expect it to be hardy inside my unheated greenhouse, and maybe also in sheltered place in the the garden in a bed which is protected against moisture during the winter. In the summer of 2000  planted the first seedlings in the unheated greenhouse, and in 2001 the first seedlings were so large that I dared try it in my protected bed in the garden. Both plants er still OK in August 2009, see photo further below. In the spring of 2009 I did plant a large plant close up agains the south facing wall of the house, it have grown well this season (August 2009). It will be interesting to see how well it looks in the spring of 2010.

If Yucca nana proofs to be reliable hardy in Denmark, it will be a plant that's everyone who is growing alpines or hardy cactus wants in their garden! I the next 10 years or so, I hope to be able to make seeds of my own plants, so it wont be necessary to collect seeds in the nature, You must remember that "Propagation is Conservation". It will be obvious to use this nice dwarf to make other dwarf hybrids so the selection of dwarf Yuccas will be even larger, I would expect that a hybrid with Yucca flaccida or Yucca filamentosa would be the first I would try to make.

A friend of mine in Wisconsin have had good success with Yucca nana, all he does in the winter is to place a bucket on top of the plant and that's enough to get the plant safely through the winter.
 

Yucca nana In David Sierer's garden in Wisconsin. Copyright ©2000 David Sierer.	Yucca nana In David Sierer's garden in Wisconsin. Copyright ©2000 David Sierer.

 

Pictures:
 

#894      Yucca nana Type location, 2075 m., southern Utah, fh 1178.78, sown May 1998. Photo from October 1999. ©1999 Benny M. Jensen.	#1067    Yucca nana Utah Muddy Creek, 2110 m., fh 1179.39, sown June 1999. Photo from October 1999. ©1999 Benny M. Jensen.	#1068    Yucca nana Limestone Cliffs, Utah, 2040 m. fh 1179.52, sown June 1999. Photo from October 1999. ©1999 Benny M. Jensen

#893B Yucca nana, Mill Creek area, Utah, fh 1178.77, sown May 22nd. 1998. Planted in a bed inside the unheated greenhouse.

July 24th. 2009. © Benny M. Jensen	July 28th. 2009. © Elena Y.G. Jensen	July 28th. 2009. © Elena Y.G. Jensen	July 28th. 2009. © Elena Y.G. Jensen

#893C Yucca nana, Mill Creek area, Utah, fh 1178.77, sown May 22nd. 1998. Planted in a bed which is protected against moisture from mid October to April.

June 2003. © Benny M. Jensen 2003.	August 13th. 2009. © Elena Y.G. Jensen	August 16th. 2009. © Elena Y.G. Jensen	August 16th. 2009. © Elena Y.G. Jensen

Reference:
HAENNI, R, (1985), Cact. & Succ. Jour. Amer. Vol. 57 (4): 170-172. (Yucca sp.)
HOCHSTAETTER, F., (1998) Succulenta 77 (2):72. (Yucca nana)
HOCHSTAETTER, F., (1998) Kaktusbluete :29. (Yucca nana)
HOCHSTAETTER, F., (1999) Yucca (Agavaceae), CD-Rom nr. 3.
HOCHSTAETTER, F; (2000), YUCCA (vol. I): 38 (Yucca nana)
MCKELVEY, S., Yucca of the south-western USA 2: (1947)
MOELLER JENSEN, B., Kaktus og andre sukkulenter 35(1):13-15 (January, 2000) (Yucca nana Hochstätter)
NEESE & WELSH, Great Basin Naturalist 45 (4): 789-790 (1985) (Yucca harrimaniae var. sterilis)
REVEAL, Intermountain Flora 6: 530 (1977) (Yucca harrimaniae var. neomexicana)
RYDBERG, Fl. Rocky Mts. 1061. 1917(1918) (Yucca gilbertiana)
TRELEASE, Ann. Rept. Missouri Bot. Gard. 13: 59 (1902) (Yucca harrimaniae)
TRELEASE, Annual Rep. Missouri Bot.Gard.18: 225, 1907. (Yucca harrimaniae var. gilbertiana)
WOOTON & STANDLEY, Contrib. U. S. Nat. Herb. 16: 115 (1913) (Yucca neomexicana)
WEBBER, J.M., Yuccas of the South West, in Agriculture Monograph U.S.D.A. 17: 1953)

Navajo Country:
Home page:
Email: Fhnavajo@aol.com
Owner: Fritz Hochstaetter.
Seeds of Extremely many species of Yucca, Pediocactus, Sclerocactus, has also seeds of other cactus and succulents and a  few plants for sale. He as a Yucca CD-ROM for sale, it contains more than 1000 photos of Yucca plants.
In April 2000 he published his first book about Yuccas: HOCHSTAETTER, F; 2000, YUCCA (vol. I)  In the SOUTHWEST and MIDWEST of the USA and CANADA. The second part with the fleshy fruited species and the Yucca filamentosa-flaccida complex was published in 2002