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Cardiocrinum giganteum var. yunnanense
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June 16, 2008 : Yucca brevifolia
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Plant Family / Families: Agavaceae
Scientific Name and Author: Yucca brevifolia Engelm.
Institution: Saddleback Butte State Park
Map Location: via Google Maps
Name Location: east of Lancaster, California, USA
By special request (from a conversation with a friend on the weekend), here's an infrared photograph of Yucca brevifolia (along with a non-IR photograph of the inflorescence).
Joshua trees have made a previous appearance on BPotD in a brief entry on Joshua Tree National Park. In the comments section, Bill Hooker of Open Reading Frame suggested this article by Chris Clarke on Creek Running North: Joshua trees and extinction. In a bit of coincidence, during the same month that Chris wrote his piece, a journal article came out that suggested things are a bit more hopeful for the Joshua tree than was thought at the time. See: Vander Wall et al. 2006. Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) seeds are dispersed by seed-caching rodents. Ecoscience. 13(4): 539-543.
Since it's a well-known plant from California (and also Arizona, Utah, Nevada and Baja California), excellent resources for more information exist: Calphotos, the Fire Effects Information System factsheet, and the Flora of North America: Yucca brevifolia.
Posted by Daniel Mosquin at June 16, 2008 8:43 AM
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Comments
Posted by: J at June 16, 2008 9:59 AM
How lovely. Now I shall go and read about these plants. I just enjoy this web site so much. Thank you.
Posted by: Carole Miller at June 17, 2008 3:54 AM
i live in florida and had something
they call yuccas i used as a fence
the blossoms are much the same
grew quite tall an off shoot perhaps
interesting as always thank you
Posted by: elizabeth a airhart at June 17, 2008 9:22 AM
What is that white gunk all over the upper set of flowers in the lower pictures? I've seen quite a few Joshua Tree flowers now but I have never seen that white stuff. Is it some sort of mold attacking the flowers?
RSVP, thanks.
Posted by: Jeff B at Home at June 19, 2008 7:01 PM
Are there any of these at UBC? I think I see them in some Seattle locations. It didn't really sink in until recently that they were probably this species - short leaves at the tops of trunks - although the dead leaves don't seem to persist and coat the stems for years. But that may not be a disqualifier, people may be cleaning them off or it may not be a consistent characteristic.
Posted by: Ron B at June 19, 2008 8:52 PM
Ron, it's been a while since you posted your comment, but I'll answer anyway: what you see is probably New Zealand cabbage (tree)/false dracaena, Cordyline australis. I't commonly planted and much more cold-hardy and persistent in the PNW.
Posted by: Andrea at June 26, 2008 12:01 PM
Ron, I'd love you know where you have seen these in Seattle. I found a small one in Bremerton. I've never seen any local nurseries carrying them, though.
Posted by: Ian Barclay at July 8, 2008 12:51 PM
Please share your comments about the photograph(s) and accompanying write-up. Telling a story about the subject of the photograph(s) is also much appreciated! If you have a gardening question, the best place to ask is on the UBC Botanical Garden Forums. Thank you!
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Botany Photo of the Day is a project of the UBC Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research, located in Vancouver, British Columbia Canada. UBC BGCPR is a department of the Faculty of Land and Food Systems within The University of British Columbia.
WOW. I *never* get tired of those IR shots!
Time to dig out that classic U2 album!
;->