Pronounciation: Hes-per-o-YUC-ca WHIP-lee-i

Hardiness zones
Sunset 12-24
USDA 8-11

Landscape Use: Strong foliar textural and floral accent, desert gardens, arid and oasis landscape design, Spanish and ranch style architecture.

Form & Character: Rounded, stiff, imposing, visually compelling...but don't touch!

Growth Habit: Evergreen, fibrous perennial, acaulescent, densely foliated, occassionally branching to form basal clumps, 3- to 5-feet tall with equal spread.

Foliage/Texture: Stiff, glaucous, linear, tapering to a sharp pointed tip, sometimes finely serrate to 36-inches long; medium coarse texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Striking, single flower stalk to 10-feet tall bearing numerous white flowers; fruit is a winged capsule that opens at full maturity, seeds dihescent.

Seasonal Color: Striking flower stalks in late spring and early summer.

Temperature: Tolerant

Light: Full sun

Soil: All soil types, as long as well drained.

Watering: Very infrequent.

Pruning: None

Propagation: Seed, division of basal clumps difficult.

Disease and Pests: Root rot in poorly drained soils.

Additional comments: Unlike other Yucca species, Chapparal yucca is monocarpic, living for a number of years without flowering and then dying after it does flower. Chapparal yucca is naturally pollinated solely by the California yucca moth (Tegeticula maculata). Chapparal yucca has many ethnobotanical uses. Because of its monocarpic habit, Chapparal yucca is less desirable as a Phoenix landscape ornamental than other polycarpic Yucca species that flower and fruit annually during May.