Yucca baccata (Banana yucca)

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Yucca baccata Torr.

Banana yucca, blue yucca, spanish bayonet, spanish dagger, amole, datil yucca

Kingdom	Plantae	Plants, but not fungi, lichens, or algae
Subkingdom	Tracheobionta	Vascular plants—plants with a “circulatory system” for delivering water and nutrients
Division	Magnoliophyta	Flowering plants, also known as angiosperms
Class	Liliopsida	Monocots (plants with a single seed leaf); includes the lily family
Subclass	Liliidae	Includes lilies, orchids, and many others
Order	Asparagales	A diverse group that includes asparagus
Family	Asparagaceae	Agaves, asparagus, hyacinths, and others
Genus	Yucca	Linnaeus mistakenly derived the genus name from the Carib word for (similar-appearing) cassava, yuca
Species	baccata	Means “pulpy or berry-like fruits”

About plant names...

The name "banana yucca" refers to this yucca's large fruits. The species name baccata means "fruited" as well.

Identification: Banana yuccas have large, stiff leaves 12-40" (30-101 cm) long × 1-2" (2.5-5 cm) wide. Leaves are blue-green, emerging from a common base, narrow and pointed, like an oversized clump of grass. The central flowering stalk, which is often elevated well above the cluster of leaves in other yuccas, may be within or barely above the leaves in this species, about 3-5' (1-1.5 m) high. Flowers are cream-colored, and copious, 1½-3½" (3.8-8.9 cm) long, hanging downward like inverted urns.

See the Yucca page for a comparison with other yuccas.

Edibility: The Paiutes—native Americans who inhabited portions of the southwestern United States—dried the relatively large fruits for winter use. After removing fiber and seeds, fruits can also be baked and eaten.

Online References:

DesertUSA: Exploring the Southwest

Desert-tropicals.com

The USDA Forest Service's Fire Effects Information Database

as Compiled by the Master Gardeners of the University of Arizona Pima County Cooperative Extension

Wikipedia

References:

Irish, Mary & Irish, Gary, Agaves, Yuccas and Related Plants: A Gardener’s Guide, Timber Press, 2000, p. 236

Peterson, Lee Allen, Peterson Field Guides: Edible Wild Plants of Eastern/Central North America, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1977, p. 170