Saturday, November 28, 2009

Yucca



These are Yucca filamentosa.

Pictures taken November 24, 2009.

There are occasional Yucca filamentosa plants growing wild in Indiana, normally as escapes from gardens and cemeteries.

Charles Deam reports in Deam's Flora of an early account of Yucca in Indiana: "In the original Coblentz edition of "Travels in the Interior of North America" published in 1839-41, Prince Maximilian writes of his travels from Owensville, Gibson County to Vincennes, on June 10, 1834, as follows: 'The region on the other side (north side of the White River, which he crossed in the vicinity of what is now known as Hazelton) changes considerably; and here appears in a now again sandy soil nearly the same plants as are found in the sandy soil and the prairies of St. Louis, with the addition of a few new ones, a fire-colored lily (Lilium catesbaei), the great-flowered lady slipper (Cypripedium spectabile), a species of Yucca, and many others.' It is not known what species Maximilian saw. It may have been (Yucca filamentosa) or Yucca glauca Nutt. both of which may have at that time extended up the Mississippi Valley into Indiana"

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