Navajo Yucca
Yucca baileyi
Family: Asparagaceae
This is a short yucca reaching 3’ or a little higher, clustering to 6’ wide or wider. Solitary or with spreading rosettes, as many as 15. Flower spikes rise up about 5-6’ high with white flowers. Flowers occur in mid to late spring. Some populations of Yucca baileyi comprise compact colonies of semierect, branched plants instead of scattered, cespitose individuals. These populations are sometimes recognized as var. navajoa.
Plant in full to part sun, provide low water and very good drainage. Water maybe once or twice a month in summer. Hardy to about 10°F.
The species epitaph, baileyi, comes from either Captain F. M. Bailey or Major Vernon Bailey, who collected yucca plants in the early 20th century. Captain Bailey collected in Tibet around 1913, and Major Bailey collected on Mount Wichita, Oklahoma around 1906.
This species is native to Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Much of its native range is within the boundaries of the Diné Reservation, hence the common name "Navajo yucca."