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yucca

(Science: zoology) See flicker.

(Science: botany) A genus of American liliaceous, sometimes arborescent, plants having long, pointed, and often rigid, leaves at the top of a more or less woody stem, and bearing a large panicle of showy white blossoms.

The species with more rigid leaves (as Yucca aloifolia, Y. Treculiana, and Y. Baccata) are called spanish bayonet, and one with softer leaves (Y. Filamentosa) is called bear grass, and Adam's needle.

(Science: zoology) Yucca moth, a small silvery moth (Pronuba yuccasella) whose larvae feed on plants of the genus Yucca.

Origin: NL, from Yuca, its name in St. Domingo.