Yucca constricta Buckley

Plants forming small to large, open colonies, acaulescent or occasionally caulescent and arborescent; rosettes usually small, asymmetrical. Stems procumbent, to 0.4 m. Leaf blade divergent, spreading, linear or somewhat wider near middle, mostly straight, flattened or plano-convex, 25–65 × (0.3–)0.7–1.5 cm, soft, rigid, margins entire, becoming filiferous, whitish or light green. Inflorescences paniculate, racemose distally, arising 2–4.6 dm beyond rosettes, ovoid, 4.5–13 dm, distance from leaf tips to proximal inflorescence branches more than twice leaf length when fully expanded, glabrous; raceme 20–25 cm; proximal branches 15–25 cm; bracts erect; peduncle scapelike, 1–2 m, less than 2.5 cm diam. Flowers pendent; perianth hemispheric; tepals distinct, pale greenish white, thin, 2.5–4.8 × 1.1–2.6 cm, apex acute; filaments 1.7–2.2 cm, pubescent; anthers 3.2 mm; pistil slender, cylindric, 2.5–3.8 × 0.5–0.6 cm; style whitish or pale green, 8–11 mm; stigmas lobed. Fruits erect, capsular, dehiscent, oblong-cylindric, deeply constricted near middle, (3.5–)4.6–6.3 × (1.5–)2.5–4.3 cm, dehiscence septicidal. Seeds glossy black, thin, 10–15 mm diam.

Limestone outcrops and rocky prairies. Brushwood, desert grassland areas, usually in compact sandy soils; at elevations from 300-700 metres.

The flowers are eaten raw. They can also be dried and crushed and used as flavouring. The flowering stem is eaten cooked and used like asparagus.

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings. Seeds needs soaking.