Sunday, December 31, 2017

Yucca End-of-2017 Miscellany


This article caps off this year of my yucca writings as follows:
  1. Yucca's Two Same-Year Stalk Bloom Cycles (contrasting a soft-leaf yucca's two stalks that bloomed within months of each other—one in July, and one in the fall)
  2. Yuccas as Succulents
  3. Relationship Among Yuccas, Agaves, and Asparagus
Yucca's Two Same-Year Stalk Bloom Cycles

The video provides visual progression contrasts between the two stalks. The first stalk's cycle lasted 22 days, and the second cycle lasted 12 days. I placed side-by-side images of two days (first stalk) and one day (second stalk) of the cycles for most of the video. The progressive yellowing of the leaves in the second stalk (right side) becomes more evident day by day.

The video also includes some recent post-bloom images. The stalks are bare of blooms, the leaves seemingly lifeless and having surrendered their nutrients to the two cycles of blooms. The successive images show stalks no longer upright, apparently leaning to the side, then succumbing to gravity. In the December 8 images, snow lightly blankets the leaves.

Yuccas as Succulents From "Super Succulents for Your Garden"
Some of our favorite plants are succulents – hens and chicks, agave, yuccas, aloes and more. ... The highlight of these plants (yuccas) is a tall flower stalk covered in cream-colored blooms that can reach anywhere from a few feet up to 30 feet tall, depending on the species.
From "Soft Leaf Yucca: 21 Important Facts On The Attractive Succulent"
A sought-after succulent, the yucca, adds a very tropical feel and a distinct look to your garden.
Relationship Among Yuccas, Agaves, and Asparagus

From "What Is the Difference Between a Yucca and an Agave?"
Both yucca and agave plants belong to the family of Agavaceae. The Yucca plant derives from the genera subtype ''Yucca,'' featuring about 40 species, whereas the agave belongs to the genera subtype ''Agave,'' which features around 300 species.
From "Why agave stalks look a bit like asparagus spears"
There's a reason agave stalks look a bit like asparagus spears. The plants belong to the Asparagceae family.
From "FAMILY ASPARAGACEAE"
Agavoideae is a subfamily of monocot flowering plants in the family Asparagaceae, order Asparagales. It has previously been treated as a separate family, Agavaceae. The group includes many well-known desert and dry zone types such as the agave, yucca, and Joshua tree.

2 comments:

Woody Lemcke said...

Thanks again Wanda! I hadn't realized how interesting Yucca's (and many other plants/animals) were until you started researching, photographing and documenting them. I took general biology but then vertebrate zoology, microbiology ... so this botany is fairly new to me. The agave mention brings back a memory of a rare visit to a liquor store. I ran into our younger son's baseball coach's wife, who is a devout Baptist. She looked really surprised and explained one of the few remedies for her arthritis was blue agave tequila. I was a bit skeptical but didn't let on and just laughed. An awkward but fun meeting!

whilldtkwriter said...

YW! Glad you like the yucca info. Google's great for finding online stuff w/o having to get hands dirty. Thanks for sharing about the Baptist and tequila. Guess the pain relief trumped religious convictions.