{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{Speciesbox |status = LC |status_system = IUCN3.1 |status_ref = <ref name="iucn status 20 November 2021">{{cite iucn |author=Clary, K. |author2=Hodgson, W. |author3=Salywon, A. |author4=Puente, R. |date=2020 |title=''Yucca rupicola'' |volume=2020 |article-number=e.T117428510A117470187 |doi=10.2305/IUCN.UK.2020-1.RLTS.T117428510A117470187.en |access-date=20 November 2021}}</ref> |name = Twistleaf yucca |image = Yucca rupicola 2.jpg |image_caption = |taxon = Yucca rupicola |authority = Scheele |synonyms =* ''Yucca lutescens'' <small>Carrière</small> *''Yucca rupicola'' var. ''tortifolia'' <small>Engelm.</small> * ''Yucca tortifolia'' <small>Lindh. ex Torr.</small> * ''Yucca tortilis'' <small>Carrière</small> |synonyms_ref = <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl/record/kew-291736|title=The Plant List: A Working List of All Plant Species}}</ref> }}
'''''Yucca rupicola''''' is a plant in the family Asparagaceae, known as the '''twistleaf yucca''', '''twisted-leaf yucca''', '''Texas yucca'''<ref name="LBJ">{{cite web|url=http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=YURU|title=''Yucca rupicola'' (Twistleaf yucca)|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|year=2013|website=Native Plant Database|publisher=Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center|access-date=20 December 2013}}</ref> or '''twisted-leaf Spanish-dagger'''.<ref name=BSBI07>{{BSBI 2007 |access-date=2014-10-17}}</ref> The species was described by George Heinrich Adolf Scheele in 1850.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/109824#page/151/mode/1up |title=Beiträge zur einer Flora von Texas|author=Adolf Scheele|pages=139–146 (page 143) |journal=Linnaea|volume=23|year=1850}}</ref> This is a small, acaulescent plant with distinctive twisted leaves. It is native Texas and northeastern Mexico.
== Description == ''Yucca rupicola'' forms colonies of rosettes, lacking trunks above-ground but producing a branched caudex under the surface. Leaves are narrowly lanceolate, slightly succulent, twisted, up to 60 cm long but about 40 mm wide at its widest point. Flowers are pendant (drooping), bell-shaped, white or greenish, and bloom from April through June. The blooming stalk can measure up to 1.8 m tall (6 feet). Fruit is a dry capsule up to 6 cm long that is dull black in appearance.<ref>[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=242102074 Flora of North America v 26 p 431, ''Yucca rupicola'']</ref><ref name=":0">[http://www.botanicus.org/page/110867 Scheele, George Heinrich Adolf. 1850. Linnaea 23: 143–146. ''Yucca rupicola'']</ref><ref>[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5792679#page/62/mode/1up Engelmann, Georg. 1873. Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis 3: 48. ''Yucca rupicola'']</ref><ref name="LBJ" />
== Distribution and habitat == ''Yucca rupicola'' is native to the Edwards Plateau region of Texas and Coahuila and Nuevo Leon in Mexico.<ref name="LBJ" /><ref>[http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/namedetail.do?name_id=291736 Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families, ''Yucca rupicola'']</ref>
''Yucca rupicola'' grows in rocky, open areas, including limestone ledges, grassy plains, and open woodlands. It grows well in dry, caliche soil in sun or partial shade.<ref name="LBJ" />
== Ecology == ''Yucca rupicola'' is a larval host for ''Megathymus yuccae,'' which feed on the tips of leaves when young and bore down to the root to pupate.<ref name=":0" /> The blossoms are also a source of nectar for moths.<ref name="LBJ" />
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons}} {{Wikispecies}} *[http://www.tropicos.org/ImageFullView.aspx?imageid=100147520 photo of herbarium specimen at Missouri Botanical Garden, ''Yucca rupicola'', collected in Texas in 1900] *{{Wikispecies-inline}} *{{Commons category-inline}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2601655}}
Category:Flora of Coahuila Category:Plants described in 1850 rupicola Category:Flora of Texas Category:Flora of Nuevo León
{{Asparagaceae-stub}}