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Yucca whipplei (syn. Hesperoyucca whipplei; Our Lord's Candle, Spanish Bayonet, Quixote Yucca, Chaparral Yucca, Common Yucca) is a species of flowering plant
Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
 closely related to and formerly usually included in the genus Yucca
Yucca

The yuccas comprise the genus Yucca of 40-50 species of perennial plants, shrubs, and trees in the agave family Agavaceae, notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped Leaf and large terminal clusters of white or whitish flowers....
. It is native to southern California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
, United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Baja California
Baja California

Baja California is the northernmost States of Mexico of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California....
, Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, where it occurs mainly in chaparral
Chaparral

Chaparral is a shrubland or Heath plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of Lower California, Mexico....
, coastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub

Coastal sage scrub is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands terrestrial ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California....
, and oak woodland plant communities at altitudes of 300-2500 m.

It produces a stemless cluster of long, rigid leaves which end in a sharp point.






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Yucca whipplei (syn. Hesperoyucca whipplei; Our Lord's Candle, Spanish Bayonet, Quixote Yucca, Chaparral Yucca, Common Yucca) is a species of flowering plant
Flowering plant

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of Embryophytes. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms are the only extant groups of Spermatophyte....
 closely related to and formerly usually included in the genus Yucca
Yucca

The yuccas comprise the genus Yucca of 40-50 species of perennial plants, shrubs, and trees in the agave family Agavaceae, notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped Leaf and large terminal clusters of white or whitish flowers....
. It is native to southern California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
, United States
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 and Baja California
Baja California

Baja California is the northernmost States of Mexico of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1953, the area was known as the North Territory of Baja California....
, Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, where it occurs mainly in chaparral
Chaparral

Chaparral is a shrubland or Heath plant community found primarily in the U.S. state of California and in the northern portion of Lower California, Mexico....
, coastal sage scrub
Coastal sage scrub

Coastal sage scrub is a low scrubland plant community found in the California chaparral and woodlands terrestrial ecoregion of coastal California and northern Baja California....
, and oak woodland plant communities at altitudes of 300-2500 m.

Yucca Whipplei Flower
It produces a stemless cluster of long, rigid leaves which end in a sharp point. The leaves are 20-90 cm (rarely to 125 cm) long and 0.7-2 cm wide, and gray-green in color. The leaf edges are finely saw-toothed.

The single inflorescence
Inflorescence

An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches....
 grows extremely fast, and reaches 0.9-3 m tall, bearing hundreds of elliptical (bell shaped) white to purplish flowers 3 cm diameter on a densely branched panicle
Panicle

A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched Indeterminate growth inflorescence with Pedicel flowers attached along the secondary branches ....
 up to 70 cm broad, covering the upper half of the inflorescence. The fruit
Fruit

The term fruit has different meanings dependent on context, and the term is not synonymous in food preparation and biology. In botany, which is the scientific study of plants, fruits are the ripened Ovary of flowering plants....
 is a dry winged capsule
Capsule (fruit)

In botany a capsule is a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. A capsule is a dehiscent structure composed of two or more carpels, that, at maturity, split apart to release the seeds within....
, which splits open at maturity to release the seed
Seed

A seed is a small Plant embryogenesis plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some Food storage. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant....
s.

The plant takes several (usually 5+) years to reach maturity and flower, at which point it usually dies. Most subspecies
Subspecies

In biology, subspecies is the taxonomic rank immediately subordinate to a species. A subspecies is a taxonomic group which is less distinct than the Common descent or species from which it originates....
 produce offshoots from the base, so that although the parent plant flowers and dies, a cluster of clones around its base continue to grow and reproduce.

Taxonomy

The taxonomy of Yucca whipplei is complex; six subspecies have been recognised (Hochstätter 2000, 2002, 2004), but others (e.g. Flora of North America and the Jepson Flora) do not recognise any subspecies or varieties, as the wide variability within the species precludes the segregation of discrete subspecies.

Hochstätter's subspecies are:
  • Yucca whipplei ssp. whipplei
  • Yucca whipplei ssp. caespitosa
  • Yucca whipplei ssp. intermedia
  • Yucca whipplei ssp. percursa
  • Yucca whipplei ssp. newberryi
  • Yucca whipplei ssp. eremica


The plant treated as the subspecies Yucca whipplei subsp. newberryi has been shown to be genetically distinct, and is often treated as a distinct species Hesperoyucca newberryi. It is native further east, in Arizona
Arizona

The State of Arizona is a U.S. state located in the Southwestern United States of the United States. The capital and largest city is Phoenix, Arizona....
, and differs in the capsules being unwinged or with only slight wings.

Ecology

It is pollinated by the California yucca moth (Tegeticula maculata), a relationship which has become a classic example of symbiosis
Symbiosis

The term symbiosis commonly describes close and often long-term interactions between different biological species. The term was first used in 1879 by the Germany mycology Heinrich Anton de Bary, who defined it as "the living together of unlike organisms"....
. Working at night, the female yucca moth collects up to a dozen sacks of pollen grains called pollinia and forms them into a massive ball. She then flies to another plant and lands on the ovary of a flower. Standing with her head near the stigma, she inserts her ovipositor
Ovipositor

The ovipositor is an organ used by some animals for oviposition, i.e. the laying of Egg . It consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages formed to transmit the egg, to prepare a place for it, and to place it properly....
 into the ovary wall and lays a single egg
Egg (biology)

In most birds and reptiles, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum. To enable incubation the egg is usually kept within a favourable temperature range as it nourishes and protects the growing embryo....
. She then rubs her pollen mass against the central stigmatic depression, ensuring pollination
Pollination

Pollination in flowering plants and gymnosperms is the process that transfers pollen, which contain the male gametes to where the female gamete are contained within the carpel; in gymnosperms the pollen is directly applied to the ovule itself....
. The pollinated ovary will now produce many seeds, ensuring an ample food supply for the larva
Larva

A larva is a young form of animal with indirect developmental biology, going through or undergoing metamorphosis .The larva can look completely different from the adult form, for example, a caterpillar differs from a butterfly....
. Although many associations of Yucca
Yucca

The yuccas comprise the genus Yucca of 40-50 species of perennial plants, shrubs, and trees in the agave family Agavaceae, notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped Leaf and large terminal clusters of white or whitish flowers....
 and yucca moth exist, Tegeticula muculata and Yucca whipplei form an exclusive relationship.

Etymology

  • "Yuca" is a native name for the unrelated Manihot
    Manihot

    Manihot is a plant genus of the family Euphorbiaceae, comprising 98 species found in tropical and warm Americas. The best known member of this genus is the cassava ....
    .
  • Yucca whipplei is named after A. W. Whipple (1816-1863), a surveyor who oversaw the Pacific Railroad
    Southern Pacific Railroad

    The Southern Pacific Transportation Company , earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company , was an United States railroad....
     Survey to Los Angeles
    Los Ángeles

    Los ?ngeles is the Capital of the Biob?o Province, in the municipality of the same name, in Regions of Chile VIII , in the center-south of Chile....
     in 1853. (Dale 1986, p. 24)
  • The name Our Lord's Candle is derived from its huge, flame shaped inflorescence.
  • Spanish Bayonet refers to the needle-sharp leaf tips which can cause discomfort to the unwary passer-by.


Cultivation and uses

Yucca whipplei is used in xeriscaping
Xeriscaping

Xeriscaping and xerogardening refers to Landscape architecture and gardening in ways that reduce or eliminate the need for supplemental irrigation....
 in Southern California
Southern California

Southern California, or So Cal, is defined as the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its population centers on the cities of Los Angeles, California, San Diego, California, San Bernardino, California, and Riverside, California....
, but reportedly is difficult to grow outside of its native range. It is extremely drought tolerant and thrives in clay soils.

It was used extensively by Native Americans
Indigenous peoples of the Americas

The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of the Americas, their descendants, and many ethnic groups who identify with those peoples....
 (Dole & Rose 1996, p. 59):
  • Fiber
    Fiber

    Fiber or fibre is a class of materials that are continuous filaments or are in discrete elongated pieces, similar to lengths of yarn. They are very important in the biology of both plants and animals, for holding tissue s together....
     from the leaves was used for sandals, cloth, and rope
    Rope

    A rope is a length of fibers, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength ....
    .
  • Young flowers are edible but may be bitter.
  • Fruits can be eaten raw, roasted, or pounded into meal.
  • Seeds were roasted and eaten whole or ground into flour
    Flour

    Flour is a powder made of cereal grains. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many civilizations, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history....
    .
  • Roots pounded in water produce a lather
    Foam

    The most general definition of foam is a substance that is formed by trapping many gas bubbles in a liquid or solid. It can also refer to anything that is analogous to such a phenomenon, such as quantum foam....
     that was used as soap
    SOAP

    SOAP, originally defined as Simple Object Access Protocol, is a protocol specification for exchanging structured information in the implementation of Web Services in computer networks....
     and shampoo
    Shampoo

    Shampoo is a hair care product used for the removal of sebum, dirt, skin particles, dandruff, environmental pollutants and other contaminant particles that gradually build up in hair....
    .


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