yucca Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun any of several evergreen plants of the genus Yucca having usually tall stout stems and a terminal cluster of white flowers; warmer regions of North America

NL., from Yuca, its name in St. Domingo.

(Bot.) A genus of American liliaceous, sometimes arborescent, plants having long, pointed, and often rigid, leaves at the top of a more or less woody stem, and bearing a large panicle of showy white blossoms. ✍ The species with more rigid leaves (as Yucca aloifolia, Y. Treculiana, and Y. baccata) are called Spanish bayonet, and one with softer leaves (Y. filamentosa) is called bear grass, and Adam's needle.