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*).
(post is archived)