TIL that the plant known in Southern California as "Yucca", common in the high deserts and mountains there, is not actually a true yucca, but a species of a different, genetically distinct genus. [5184x3888 - 2.02MB]

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TIL that the plant known in Southern California as "Yucca", common in the high deserts and mountains there, is not actually a true yucca, but a species of a different, genetically distinct genus. [5184x3888 - 2.02MB] (pic8.co)

The taxonomy of H. whipplei is complex and controversial. Hesperoyucca was described as a genus by George Engelmann as long ago as 1892, but it has taken recent DNA analysis to confirm that they are genetically distinct from Yucca. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesperoyucca_whipplei

Also, I learned that the Joshua Tree, which no one seems to ever call a yucca, really is a species of the genus Yucca (Y. brevifolus).

>The taxonomy of *H. whipplei* is complex and controversial. Hesperoyucca was described as a genus by George Engelmann as long ago as 1892, but it has taken recent DNA analysis to confirm that they are genetically distinct from Yucca. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesperoyucca_whipplei Also, I learned that the Joshua Tree, which no one seems to ever call a yucca, really *is* a species of the genus Yucca (*Y. brevifolus*).

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[–] • 1 pt

City of Los Angeles is right over that ridge in this photo (less than 20 miles away), so really lots of liberals probably travel the road where it was taken.

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[–] • 0 pt

I’m talking deserts in general

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