Hesperoyucca is a small genus of two recognized species of flowering plants closely related to, and recently split from, Yucca, which is in the century plant subfamily within the asparagus family.

[2] Hesperoyucca is distinct from Yucca in having loculicidally dehiscent fruit and a scape more than 2.5 cm diameter with reflexed (not erect) bracts.

In 1876, John Gilbert Baker gave it the rank of subgenus; in 1892 he noted that it "had better be kept as a genus distinct from Yucca" (but actually retained the name Y. whippleii [sic]).

[3][8] It has taken recent DNA analysis to confirm that they are indeed genetically distinct from Yucca.

[3] The splitting of Hesperoyucca from Yucca is still not widely reflected in available literature or online (for example, the British Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Royal Horticultural Society websites do not recognise the name as current).