The native range of this robust perennial rosette-plant is centered on the Gulf Coastal Plain (especially Ga. to Miss.), but it has also been widely cultivated and naturalized, perhaps further north than filamentosa, sensu stricto (FNA 26; J, K, W). Y. flaccida has often been combined or confused with filamentosa. It may best be treated as a variety, although some recent authors have supported species status (Ward 2011). Intermediate plants appear to be locally frequent. Most colls. from Ky. need to be reexamined for reliable segregation, but they appear to match flaccida more than filamentosa. Y. flaccida differs from typical filamentosa in its smaller flowers (with tepals ca. 3-5 cm long versus 5-7 cm) and pubescent (versus glabrous) inflorescence branches. Also, its leaves tend to be narrower (ca. 1.5-4 cm versus 2-6 cm), thinner and more pliable, flat (versus concave upwards), with the apex attenuate to a spinose point (versus acute to obtuse) and with shorter marginal fibrils (up to 4 cm versus 20 cm). There is no conclusive evidence that either taxon was native in Ky. before settlement, though there were references to a potential common name, "beargrass." Under this name, Short (1840) noted: "A showy and ornamental plant, frequent in gardens; and which I am informed by the Rev. Mr. Jones, of Hopkinsville, grows abundantly on the Cumberland mountains, in the S.E. corner of Kentucky." Yucca does appear to be native along rocky banks of the Obed Rv. in e. Tenn. (D. Estes, pers. comm.).