Yucca   4 comments

What’s a yucca?  A shrub – or tree. There are 40+ different species, which have rosettes of evergreen, sword-shaped leaves. They have large terminal panicles of whitish flowers. A panicle is a compound raceme — a loose, much-branched inflorescence with pedicellate flowers.

Don’t you love it when botanists talk all technical?

Here’s what they’re talking about … a part of roadway landscaping in Santa Clarita, CA.

Wikipedia provides this curiosity:

… in the Midwest United States as “ghosts in the graveyard”, as it is commonly found growing in rural graveyards and when in bloom the flowers appear as floating apparitions.

I’m from the midwest … never saw a yucca in a graveyard. Never heard anyone talk about ghosts in the graveyard … and refer to this succulent, anyway.

Posted May 14, 2013 by henrymowry in Photography

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4 responses to “Yucca

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  1. We have these in Texas as well, we call them “Spanish Daggers”, probably not a name a botanist would use. We really enjoy your MowryJournal!

  2. At least “Spanish Daggers” makes a lot of sense for a common name! Thanks for reading my random thoughts. If you’re having some fun reading, then you’re doing it the right way.

  3. I’ve heard them called ‘Spanish Candles’ too which is a pretty name – but the ‘ghosts in the graveyard’ is a new one on me too! we’ve always had them in the ‘front yard’ along the road – and they’re still there! grins g

  4. Pingback: The Yucca Fades | MowryJournal.com

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