Asparagaceae
Yucca

Yucca gigantea Lem.

First published in Ill. Hort. 6(Misc.): 91 (1859)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is Central Mexico to Central America. It is a tree and grows primarily in the seasonally dry tropical biome. It is used as a medicine, has environmental uses and for food.

Distribution

Native to:

Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Nicaragua, Panamá

Introduced into:

Ecuador, El Salvador, Italy, Leeward Is., Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain

Synonyms

Homotypic Synonyms

Heterotypic Synonyms

Classification

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Publications

POWO follows these authorities in accepting this name:

  • (2016). https://doi.org/10.25223/brad.n34.2016.a18. epublication.
  • (2020). https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.10.60736. epublication.
  • (2021). https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.11.68063. epublication.
  • Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies. Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.
  • Aymerich, P. (2019). Notes sobre flora allòctona a Catalunya. II. Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d'Història Natural 83: 3-21.
  • Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Monocotyledons Database in ACCESS: 1-71827. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

An alternative taxonomy had been proposed by the following authorities:

  • Albano, P.-O. (2003). La Conaissance des Plantes Exotiques: 1-324. Édisud, Aix-en-Provence. [Cited as Yucca elephantipes.]
  • Fournet, J. (2002). Flore illustrée des phanérogames de Guadeloupe et de Martinique 2: 1325-2538. Gondwana editions. [Cited as Yucca guatemalensis.]
  • Molon, G. (1914). Le Yucche: 1-247. Ulrico Hoepli Editore Libaio della Real Casa, Milano. [Cited as Yucca elephantipes var. gigantea.]

Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

  • Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R. & Celis, M. (eds.). 2015. Catálogo de plantas y líquenes de Colombia. Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá. http://catalogoplantasdecolombia.unal.edu.co

Kew Backbone Distributions

  • (2021). https://doi.org/10.3897/italianbotanist.11.68063. epublication.
  • Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2005). Monocotyledons and Gymnosperms of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 52: 1-415.
  • Aymerich, P. (2019). Notes sobre flora allòctona a Catalunya. II. Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d'Història Natural 83: 3-21.
  • Berendsohn, W.G., Gruber, A.K. & Monterrosa Salomón, J. (2009). Nova silva cusatlantica. Árboles nativos e introduciados de El Salvador. Parte 1: Angiospermae - Familias A a L. Englera 29-1: 1-438.
  • Davidse, G. & al. (eds.) (1994). Flora Mesoamericana 6: 1-543. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F.
  • Espejo Serena, A. & López-Ferrari, A.R. (1993). Las Monocotiledóneas Mexicanas una Sinopsis Florística 1(1): 1-76. Consejo Nacional de la Flora de México, México D.F.
  • Garcia-Mendoza, A.J. & Meave, J.A. (eds.) (2012). Diversidad florística de Oaxaca: de musgos a angiospermas (colecciones y listas de especies), ed. 2: 1-351. Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México.
  • Jørgensen, P.M. & León-Yánes, S. (eds.) (1999). Catalogue of the Vascular Plants of Ecuador: 1-1181. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
  • Liogier, H.A. & Martorell, L.F. (2000). Flora of Puerto Rico and Adjacent Islands: a Systematic Synopsis ed. 2: 1-382. Editorial de la Universidad de Puerto Rico, San Juan.
  • Stevens, W.D. & al. (eds.) (2001). Flora de Nicaragua 1: 1-943. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.

Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

  • Bernal, R., Gradstein, S.R., & Celis, M. (eds.). (2020). Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia. v1.1. Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Dataset/Checklist. https://doi.org/10.15472/7avdhn
  • Diazgranados et al. (2021). Catalogue of plants of Colombia. Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia project. In prep.
  • Diazgranados, M., Allkin, B., Black N., Cámara-Leret, R., Canteiro C., Carretero J., Eastwood R., Hargreaves S., Hudson A., Milliken W., Nesbitt, M., Ondo, I., Patmore, K., Pironon, S., Turner, R., Ulian, T. (2020). World Checklist of Useful Plant Species. Produced by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Knowledge Network for Biocomplexity.
  • FPI (2021). Food Plants International. https://fms.cmsvr.com/fmi/webd/Food_Plants_World?homeurl=https://foodplantsinternational.com/plants/
  • GBIF.org (2021). GBIF species matching tool. https://www.gbif.org/tools/species-lookup
  • GRIN (2021). Germplasm Resources Information Network from the United States Department of Agriculture. https://www.ars-grin.gov/
  • Medicinal Plant Names Services (MPNS) v.10 (2021); http://mpns.kew.org/
  • RBG, Kew (ed.) (1999). Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands (SEPASAL) database. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, London.
  • Willis, K.J. (ed.) (2017). State of the World’s Plants 2017. Report. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Other Data

Other Kew resources that provide information on this taxon:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status Has image?
Raffill [s.n.] Yucca guatemalensis K002170677 Yes
s.n. [174] Yucca guatemalensis K002172368 Yes
Baker, J.G. [1361] United Kingdom Yucca guatemalensis K002170670 Yes
s.coll. [s.n.] United Kingdom Yucca guatemalensis K002170672 Yes
s.coll. [s.n.] United Kingdom Yucca guatemalensis K002170669 Yes
s.coll. [s.n.] Yucca guatemalensis K002170675 Yes
s.coll. [s.n.] United Kingdom Yucca guatemalensis K002170674 Yes
s.coll. [s.n.] Yucca guatemalensis K002170673 Yes
s.coll. [s.n.] Yucca guatemalensis K001096515 Type Yes
s.coll. [s.n.] Mexico Yucca guatemalensis K002170668 Yes

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Catálogo de Plantas y Líquenes de Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Colombian resources for Plants made Accessible

    • ColPlantA 2021. Published on the Internet at http://colplanta.org
    • https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

    • 'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    • Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

  • IUCN Categories

    • IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Science Photographs

    • Copyright applied to individual images

  • Useful Plants and Fungi of Colombia

    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0