General Culture:
Easily grown in light, dry to medium, well-drained soils in full sun. Tolerant of poor, sandy soils. Surprising tolerance for some part shade.
Noteworthy Characteristics:
Adam’s needle (also commonly called 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.
Problems:
No serious insect or disease problems.
Uses:
Borders. Dry garden areas. Dry slopes. Adds architectural height. Interest in yuccas for the home garden has been somewhat tempered in recent years by a proliferation of commercial plantings in such areas as parking lots of fast-food restaurants.
© Missouri Botanical
Garden, 2001-2009
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