Yucca glauca dissection

Yucca glauca in it’s “natural” habitat. Although this particular plant seems to have been planted as an ornamental outside of a community garden. Where I grew up in Western Nebraska, they grow everywhere! When we would drive the cattle up for summer grazing, the cattle always loved to strip the flowers off of the stalk and it would be hard to move them because they would stop every 20-30 feet.

Yucca glauca Nutt.

Family: Asperagaceae

Subfamily: Agave

Leaves form in basal rosettes with long, narrow pointy leaves that are between 40 and 60 cm long and 1-2 cm across. They have an erect central flower stalk and an inflorescence that is 80-100 cm tall with lily-like pendent flowers that droop off of 3-4 cm pedicels. The flowers are white to pale green.

The flower has 3 sepals and 3 petals (tepals?). The sepals are the same color but only 1.5 cm in width compared to the petals being 2 cm wide.

 

6 stamen that are covered in a fuzzy hairs

3 fused carpels that are encased in a capsule (3 cm long)

A cross-section as well as longitudinal section of the pistil

The final dissection!

 

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