Texas Gardening: Texas Native Plant Pictures ( Cacti & Desert ), 1 by htop

htop wrote:
Red yucca, false red yucca, Texas red yucca, samandoque, coral yucca and hummingbird yucca (Hesperaloe parviflora), Agavaceae Family, Texas native, perennial shrub, evergreen, blooms April through August

Red yucca, a slow growing, clump-forming plant that grows to 3 feet tall and 3 feet wide (wider under optimum conditions) is a native of Chihuahuan desert of west Texas, extends into central and south Texas (Rio-Grande area) and northeastern Mexico (Coahuila).. It natively grows in gravelly limestone soils with fast drainage and usually inhabits rocky slopes, valley slopes, canyon areas, prairies and mesquite thickets. Red yucca is adaptable to a variety of soils.

Red yucca is not a true yucca at all, but is related to the yucca spcies. It forms a grass-like mound from a rosette of narrow, hard, long, narrow, pointed blue-green leaves. The arching blades resemble rolled grass and have curly threads along edge of blade margins. In the winter, the leaves may become a plum color. Unlike the yuccas, red yucca has no thorns. In its natural setting, deer browse the foliage.

Red yucca is widely cultivated in arid and semiarid regions serving as a median plant and/or a roadside plant as well as a landscaping element. It is a great container plant and is a good choice for pool areas and pathways. It may be used as a solitary accent plant, in mass plantings or with various cacti in rock gardens to create a desert-themed landscape. If planting it, be sure that it is not next to plants that need a lot of water.

For more information, see its entry in the PlantFiles:
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/31558/index.html

Red Yucca blooms and seed pod ...