Common Name Biological Name Type Family Native Range Zone Height Spread Bloom Time Bloom Description Sun Water Maintenance Suggested Use Flower Leaf Attracts Tolerate |
Adam’s needle Yucca filamentosa Broadleaf evergreen Asparagaceae Central and eastern United States 5 to 10 4.00 to 8.00 feet 2.00 to 3.00 feet June to July Creamy white Full sun Dry to medium Low Naturalize Showy Evergreen Butterflies |
Easily grown in light, dry to medium, well-drained soils in full sun. Tolerant of poor, sandy soils, heat, drought, and salt spray. Surprising tolerance for some part shade. Can be propagated easily from basal offsets. Yucca filamentosa, commonly called Adam’s needle, Spanish bayonet, yucca and needle palm, is a virtually stemless broadleaf evergreen shrub (though it looks more like a perennial than a shrub) that is native to beaches, sand dunes and fields from South Carolina south to Florida and Mississippi. It has escaped cultivation and extended its original range north into New England. It features a basal rosette of rigid, sword-shaped, spine-tipped green leaves (to 30” long and to 4” wide) with long filamentous (as per specific epithet) curly threads along the margins. Leaves form a foliage clump to 2-3’ tall. In late spring, a flowering stalk rises from the center of each rosette, typically to 5-8’ tall, but infrequently to 12’ tall, bearing a long terminal panicles of nodding bell-shaped creamy white flowers. Fruits are elliptical dehiscent capsules. Will form a small colony over time from basal offsets. |
Information on this page is from Missouri Botanical Gardens, Dave’s Garden, All things Plants, Texas Superstar or Aggie Horticulture |
This page last updated or reviewed [210927]