ARIZONA YUCCA

Synonyms:
Yucca verdiensis McKelvey, Yuccas SW U.S.  2: 98-102, t.  35 (1947)
Yucca elata var. verdiensis (McKelvey) Reveal, Intermountain Flora 6:  533-534 (1977)

Type location:
Between Clarkdale and Cottonwood, Yavapai Co. Arizona

Distribution:
Sandy soil, in mountain valleys of central Arizona (Yavapai Co., Gila Co., Navajo Co.), notably in regions to the Verde River and it's tributaries. 900 to 2000 m.

Short description of the species:
Like Yucca elata ssp. elata but with a few differences:
Plants acaulescent or at most with short inconspicuous stems, forming eventually medium sized clumps with a variable number of stems and rosettes of leaves. Leaves 25 to 45 cm long, usually 4 to 7 mm wide (occasionally up to 13 mm wide), usually plano-convex for greater part of length, Leaf margin white, with many long fibers. Inflorescens paniculate sometimes unstable in form but most often with a few long. wide-spreading basal branchlets and long up to 280 cm tall, conspicuous racemose tip. Flowers campanulata (bell-shaped) 4 to 4,5 cm long, white to cream colored. Pistil 20 to 25 mm long. Fruit 40 to 45 mm long, 25 mm thick with thin fragile wall and smooth epidermis (very similar to Yucca angustissima, but less often constricted). Flower from May to June in habitat. Seeds

Hardiness:
Not known, I have a plant of Yucca elata ssp. verdiensis planted inside in an unheated greenhouse. And a plant that are planted in one of my protected beds (protected against winter moisture from October to May), so far both plants are doing OK.

Pictures:

#759A & 759B Yucca elata ssp. verdiensis. (Those plants may "just" be Yucca elata!)
Grown from seeds collected at Mt. Mescal Pinal Co., Arizona. Seeds from Christa's Cactus # CR158, sown 1992.
Both plants are the same age, but they have been grown in a large 25 liter pot and a small 10 liter pot that's what makes the difference!

Reference:
HOCHSTAETTER, Cactaceae-Review, Germany, 1 (2):21, 1998.
HOCHSTAETTER, F; (2000), YUCCA (vol. I): 50-51 (Yucca elata ssp. verdiensis)
REVEAL, Intermountain Flora, Vascular Plants of the Intermountain West, 533-534, 1977, USA.
MCKELVEY, Yuccas of the southwestern United States, (Vol. 2): 98-102, 1947, USA.
WEBBER, Agric. Monograph U.S.D.A. 17:62-65 (1953) (Yucca verdiensis as a syn for Yucca glauca x Yucca elata)