Yucca × schottii is called mountain yucca because it is found at higher elevations than other tree-like yuccas. It occurs in the mountain ranges at the north of the Sierra Madre Occidental cordillera. It is found in extreme southeast Arizona, then the smaller bootheel region of southwest New Mexico, and the neighboring northern Mexico states of Sonora and extreme northwest Chihuahua. Most of its range, about half is in Arizona. The mountainous regions of Arizona are in the northeast Sonora Desert, as well as Sonora; the region of New Mexico-Chihuahua lies on the extreme northwest border of the Chihuahuan Desert. This specific region at the intersection of these two deserts, is a Basin and Range area, with sky islands, named the Madrean Sky Islands for the Madrean pine forests of the Sierra Madre Occidental.