Dasylirion acrotrichum, the Great Desert Spoon and green Sotol (also, spoon yucca, though not a true Yucca

Yucca

Yucca is a genus of perennial shrubs and trees in the family Asparagaceae, subfamily Agavoideae. Its 40-50 species are notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal panicles of white or whitish flowers. They are native to the hot and dry parts of North...

 now), is a plant native to the Chihuahuan Desert

Chihuahuan Desert

The Chihuahuan Desert is a desert, and an ecoregion designation, that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border in the central and northern portions of the Mexican Plateau, bordered on the west by the extensive Sierra Madre Occidental range, and overlaying northern portions of the east range, the Sierra...

 and other xeric habitats in northern and central Mexico.

Description

The foliage is firm narrow bladed leaves up to 40 inches long (1 m), grasslike and 0.4 inch across (1 cm), symmetrically radiating in a rosette, 6 feet (1.8m) tall by the same in diameter, from a central core that elongates into decumbent trunks. The mid Summer flower spike of small white flowers is 6 to 15 feet tall (2—5 m).

Cultivation

The drought-tolerant and dramatic plant is cultivated by nurseries for use in personal gardens and larger xeriscape landscape projects in the Southwestern United States

Southwestern United States

The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...

 and California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. Dasylirion acrotrichum is hardy to 20°F (-6°C)