Editing Yucca (section)

==Taxonomy==
''Yucca'' was first described and named by [[Carl Linnaeus]] in his book ''[[Species Plantarum]]'', published in 1753.{{sfn|POWO 2025b}} The first work on the genus as a whole was published by [[George Engelmann]] in 1873.{{sfn|Irish|Irish|2000|p=18}} A [[lectotype]] for the genus, a specimen of ''[[Yucca aloifolia]]'', was designated by [[Nathaniel Lord Britton]] and [[John Adolph Shafer]] in 1908.{{sfn|Thiede|2020|p=363}}

In 1902 [[William Trelease]] published a paper separating out ''Clistoyucca'' and ''Samuela'' from ''Yucca'',{{sfn|Hess & Robbins 2020a}} along with his 1893 separation of ''[[Hesperoyucca]]'' from the genus.{{sfn|POWO 2025a}} [[Susan Delano McKelvey]] argued against this separation, though she recognized them as sections of ''Yucca''. McKelvey did allow that ''Hesperoyucca'' might be recognized as a genus writing, "since a number of flower and fruit characters differ from those in all other sections". DNA investigations in the 1990s found support for ''Hesperoyucca''.{{sfn|Hess & Robbins 2020a}} As of 2025, ''Hesperoyucca'' is listed as accepted.{{sfn|POWO 2025a}}

Prior to the 1950s ''Yucca'' was placed in [[Liliaceae]], the lily family, due to having a [[superior ovary]]. Since that time, evidence of it being more closely related to the ''[[Agave]]'' genus has been accepted.{{sfn|Thiede|2020|p=364}} In particular, the discovery that ''Yucca'', like plants in ''Agave'', has 5 large and 20 small [[chromosome]]s was a large factor in reconsidering their relationship.{{sfn|Oldfield|1997|p=3}} The [[APG III system]], published in 2009, placed the genus into the family [[Asparagaceae]] in the [[Agavoideae]] subfamily.{{sfn|Chase|Reveal|Fay|2009|pp=133–134}} This classification continued in [[APG IV]].{{sfn|Angiosperm Phylogeny Group 2016|p=15}} However, some botanists prefer to classify this subfamily as a family named Agavaceae.{{sfn|Thiede|2020|p=364}}

===Species===
{{Main list|List of Yucca species{{!}}List of ''Yucca'' species}}
{{As of|2025}} [[Plants of the World Online]] (POWO) and [[World Flora Online]] (WFO) both list [[List of Yucca species|50 valid species]].{{sfn|POWO 2025b}}{{sfn|WFO 2025a}} In addition, POWO lists three other species, ''Yucca jaegeriana'' {{small|(McKelvey) L.W.Lenz}}, ''Yucca muscipula'' {{small|Ayala-Hern., Ríos-Gómez, E.Solano & García-Mend.}}, and ''Yucca pinicola'' {{small|Zamudio}},{{sfn|POWO 2025b}} that WFO lists as unchecked or as a synonym of another species.{{sfn|WFO 2025b}}{{sfn|WFO 2025c}}{{sfn|WFO 2025d}} There are also two [[natural hybrid]]s, [[Yucca × schottii|''Yucca'' × ''schottii'']], which was formerly listed as a species under various names, and ''Yucca'' × ''quinnarjenii''.{{sfn|WFO 2025e}}{{sfn|POWO 2025c}}

<gallery mode=packed caption="Gallery of species" heights=180px>
Joshua Tree NP - Joshua Tree 2.jpg|Joshua tree (''Yucca brevifolia''), [[Joshua Tree National Park]]
Tree Yucca (Yucca filifera) (53497440645).jpg|[[Yucca filifera|Tree yucca]] (''Yucca filifera''), [[Tula National Park]]
Yucca schidigera 29.jpg|[[Mojave yucca]] (''Yucca schidigera'') Spring Mountains, southern Nevada
</gallery>

===Names===
In 1737 Linnaeus, in setting out his rules for the names of genera, wrote, "Generic names which have not a root derived from Greek or Latin are to be rejected".{{sfn|Stearn|1995|p=275}} However, in the case of ''Yucca'' and several other names, he violated his own rule by adopting names derived from other languages.{{sfn|Stearn|1995|p=289}} The word was borrowed from the [[Carib language]] by Spanish as ''juca'', starting with [[Amerigo Vespucci]] in 1497 referring to [[cassava]].{{sfn|OED 2025}} It was first used to refer to the unrelated plants of the genus ''Yucca'' in a German travel account published in 1557.{{sfn|Thiede|2020|p=363}} This was used as the genus name by Linnaeus in ''Species Plantarum''.{{sfn|Hess & Robbins 2020a}}{{sfn|POWO 2025b}}

The name ''yucca'' is used as an English [[common name]] for plant species in the genus. It is pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˌ|ˈ|j|ə|k|ə|ˌ}} (YUCK-uh) in both [[British English]] and [[American English]], but may also be pronounced {{IPAc-en|ˌ|ˈ|j|uː|k|ə|ˌ}} (YOO-kuh) in British English.{{sfn|OED 2025}} It is also known as ''Adam's needle'' or as ''Spanish-bayonet''.{{sfn|OED 2025}}{{sfn|Hess & Robbins 2020a}} Other common names for some species include ''Spanish dagger'', ''shin dagger'', ''soapweed'', or ''soaptree''.{{sfn|OED 2025}}{{sfn|Heil et al. 2013|p=98}} In the plant trade they are sometimes known as ''palm lilies''.{{sfn|Thiede|2020|p=370}} The name yucca can be confused with cassava, though the spelling ''yuca'' is often used to distinguish the food from plants in ''Yucca''.{{sfn|OED 2025}}

The Aztecs living in Mexico call the local yucca species {{Lang|Nah|iczotl}} in [[Nahuatl]], which gave the Spanish {{Lang|es|izote}}.{{sfn|RAE|ASALE|2024}}