Stats

Lifespan: 5-10 yrs
Size: Large
Diet: Photosynthetic
Biome: Chaparral shrubland
Range: North America
Movement: Sessile
Breeding: Seeds
Defense: Spines
Status: Common

About

The chaparral yucca is a monocarpic plant native to southern California and Baja California — its dense rosette of rigid, spine-tipped leaves blooms just once, sending up a towering 3–5 m flower spike packed with hundreds of creamy-white blossoms, then the rosette dies. It depends entirely on the yucca moth for pollination, a relationship so tight that neither species can reproduce without the other.

Life cycle

1.
seed
A dormant seed waits for water and warmth before germinating.
2.
sprout
A first shoot emerges with cotyledon leaves and a tap root reaching down.
3.
sapling
A young plant grows true leaves and a stem or trunk, putting on height each season.
4.
mature
Fully grown, flowering or fruiting at adult size.

Learn more

Taxonomy

Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Tracheophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Genus: Hesperoyucca
Species: Hesperoyucca whipplei