yucca

Definition

Any of several evergreen plants of the genus Yucca, having long, pointed, and rigid leaves at the top of a woody stem, and bearing a large panicle of showy white blossoms.

Etymology

Variant of yuca, sometimes said to be from Kari'na yuca (“cassava (Manihot esculenta)”), but this latter appears to be a ghost word. The word was applied to plants of the genus Yucca (now the main sense), because Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778) and others confused them with the cassava.

Example Sentences

• "YUCCA: The Indian Yucca; vulgô. / The Characters are; / It hath the Appearance of an Aloe, the Leaves ending in a ſharp Point, but will grow in the Habit of a Tree; […] The Species are; / 1. Yucca; foliis Aloes. C. B. P. The common Yucca. / 2. Yucca; foliis filamentoſis. Moriſs. Yucca with Threads growing from the Leaves.[…]"
• "On the mountains a few junipers and piñons are found, and cactuses, agave, and yuccas, low, fleshy plants with bayonets and thorns."
• "Yuccas are large, impressive plants with tough, leathery swordlike leaves and towering stalks of white cupshaped flowers. Although they are most abundant in the arid Southwest and on into Mexico, yuccas also grow in dry sandy spots throughout the East and Midwest. There are about forty species of yuccas. All have fibers in their leaves, and many serve as soap plants also[…]."