27 November 2023.
Hamilton County, Texas, United States
Locality: FM (farm-to-market road) 112, just west of Highway 281.
Coordinates: 31.8525, -98.1115
(Map it)
Elevation: 377m.
Georeference protocol: Lat/lon determined by GPS
Environment description: Rich roadside strip between fence line and dirt road. Slope: 8%. Aspect: Southeast. Elevation: 1238 feet.
Number of plants sampled: 12
Associated species: Sideroxyon lanuginosum; Prosopis glandulosa; Diospyros texana; Rhus virens; Opuntia sp.; Salvia texana; Liatris punctata var. mucronata [as L. mucronatum]; Senna roemeriana; Oenothera sp. [as Calylophus sp.]; Lindheimera texana; Oenothera missouriensis; Thelesperma sp.; Schizachyrium scoparium; Bothriochloa laguroides; Hilaria belangeri.
Comment: Pale-leaf yucca is endemic to primarily rocky soils and outcrops of the Blackland Prairie and Fort Worth Prairie (Grand Prairie) of North Central Texas; it extends south and southwest into the Lampasas Cut Plains and Edwards Plateau. Plants can be singular, but typically form loose colonies of rosettes, acaulescent, with branching subterranean caudices; rosettes 10–30 per colony, each rosette with fewer than 100 leaves. Leaf blade is striking glaucous blue with a yellow margin, lanceolate, straight, flat but becomes concave near apex, widest above middle, 8–20” long and 0.5–1.75” wide, flexible; margins denticulate or sometimes wavy. Inflorescences paniculate, branching, often distally racemose, rising 2-4 feet above rosettes. Flowers pendent; perianth campanulate; tepals distinct, greenish white, elliptic to ovate, in spring. Fruits are oblong-cylindric capsules, 2 inches by 1 inch, erect, dehiscent, septicidal. Seeds dull black, thin. Note: plants of the Hamilton County ecotype are predominantly loose colonies of rosettes. Seeds collected from 12 plants.
Collector(s):