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Yucca queretaroensis (Queretaro Yucca) - A single stemmed upright plant with a thick trunk to 12 feet tall with old leaves lying flat in a neat skirt. The tops of these trunks bear the bright green rigid leaves that are extremely narrow, less than 1/8 inch wide, square in cross section, and are 18-24 inch long, radiating outwards like a rounded head of hair. In habitat the flowers arise from amongst the leaves to 2 to 3 feet bearing white flowers, but this plant has not been in cultivation long enough to know whether it will flower regularly given garden conditions.
Plant in full sun in a well-drained soil where it requires little to no irrigation once established in our coastal climate. This plant is considered by many to be one of the most beautiful of the narrow-leafed Yucca species.
Yucca queretaroensis was first described in 1989 in "Cactaceas y Suculentas Mexicanas" Vol. 34 (3) by Ignacio Piña Lujan. It was described from plants from the Mexican state of Queretaro where it grows in small colonies on the steep slopes from 3,300 to 4,300 feet in the gorges along the Rio Extorax, a tributary of the Rio Moctezuma. It has since been also found in deep gorges northeast of Zimapan in the state of Hildalgo. This species belongs to the yucca group called Rupicolae that is most closely related to such familiar species as Yucca rostrata, Yucca glauca, Yucca rigida and the similar looking Yucca thompsoniana, which has wider flat leaves, and Yucca linearifolia from which it primarily differs in having a heavier trunk and square leaves in cross section (Y. linearifolia are about as wide but flat). We are fortunate to have seen Yucca queretaroensis in its native habitat in Queretaro and noted a fine large specimen in the Mexico City Botanic Garden.
Our original plants we sold from 2011 until 2013 were grown from seed purchased from rarepalmseeds.com in 2009 and this seed produced plants with leaves of varying widths, which led many us to believe some was the result of hybridization with another species and since both Yucca filifera and Yucca queretaroensis are found growing together sympatrically, the assumption is that these wider leafed plants are hybrids between these two species. We have a beautiful selected narrow leaf plant in a large container in the nursery. Our more recent plants that we received as Yucca queretaroensis are from the micropropagation laboratory (tissue culture) at Rancho Tissue Technologies and these have turned out to have the wider leaves of these suspected hybrids so we list these plants as Yucca x queretaroensis ‘RTT’.. We also long grew the similar Yucca linearifolia, which is a much friendlier plants with more pliable less sharp leaves.
The information about Yucca queretaroensis displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |
