Scientific Family
Agavaceae
Other common names
Palmilla
soapweed
Whipple yucca
spanish bayonet
Plant type
Yuccas
Plant Description
Origin
Native
A single or multiple branched trunk that bears grass-like leaves growing in clumps. Resembles a palm tree; roots are used to
make shampoos and wash soaps, thus the names palmilla and soaptree. Found on desert hill slopes, grasslands and dry washes.
Height
15 feet
Width
10 feet
Habitat
Plant Community
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Low elevation
1500
High elevation
6000
Flowers
Flower color
White
Flower shape
Bell-shaped
Tubular
No
First bloom month
May
Last bloom month
July
Flower clusters
Elongated
Bell-shaped, 1 to 1-1/2 inches long and creamy white to yellow-green. Borne in a cluster on a leafless stalk 3 to 17 feet high.
Branched only near the tip of the cluster.
Leaves
Leaf color
Yellowish-green
Leaf type
Other
Leaf shape
Other
Leaf margin
Other
Leaf hairs
None
Leaf Drop
Evergreen
Flexible, commonly straight, narrow, up to 3 feet long and 1/2 inch wide and found in symmetrical radiating clusters. Fibers curl from the white margins. Tips are sharp pointed. Old leaves remain on the trunk as a straw-colored thatch.
Spines
Yes
Fruit
Fruit color
Green to brown
Fruit type
Capsule
Dry, 3 celled, cylindrical capsules found upright on the woody inflorescence. 1-1/2 to 3 inches in length. Initially green and then
drying to brown. Ripens in early autumn. Has many flat, thin black seeds in the capsule.