Yucca brevifolia
- noun
- /ˈjʌkə brɛvɪˈfoʊliə/
- Specialized
:
yucca brevifolia
- The Yucca brevifolia, or Joshua tree, can grow up to 40 feet tall in the desert landscape.
Examples
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In spring, the Yucca brevifolia produces beautiful clusters of greenish-white flowers that attract pollinators.
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Officially known as Yucca brevifolia, it is part of the agave family.
Blog text (17) -
Many visitors to the national park enjoy taking photos of the striking Yucca brevifolia against the sunset.
Synonyms
1
4.8
A large branching desert plant with spiky leaves and white flower clusters that grows in the southwestern United States
Surface Forms
Morphology
yucca + brevifolia
This binomial name is compositional: 'yucca' names the plant and 'brevifolia' is a descriptive Latin epithet meaning 'short‑leaved', so the sense 'short‑leaved yucca (Joshua tree)' is directly derivable from the parts. Although 'brevifolia' is a Latin technical term that many learners may not know, under the task assumption that the learner knows the constituent words the meaning is transparently built from them.
Etymology
Yucca brevifolia joins the plant name Yucca and the Latin word brevifolia, which means 'short leaves', so imagine a yucca with short, stubby leaves. Early settlers also called it the 'Joshua tree' because its twisted branches looked like a man raising his arms in prayer, and that image explains why Yucca brevifolia refers to the big, branched desert tree we know today.