Yucca filamentosa
| Adam's needle or silk-grass | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Conservation status | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Monocots |
| Order: | Asparagales |
| Family: | Asparagaceae |
| Subfamily: | Agavoideae |
| Genus: | Yucca |
| Species: | Y. filamentosa |
| Binomial name | |
| Yucca filamentosa L. | |
Yucca filamentosa[1] is a species of flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae[2] native to the southeastern United States as far west as Louisiana and as far north as Maryland and West Virginia.[3] Its common names include Adam's needle, common yucca, Spanish bayonet,[4] bear-grass, needle-palm, silk-grass, and spoon-leaf yucca.[5] The species is also reportedly naturalized in France, Italy and Turkey.[6]
Description
Usually trunkless, it is a multisuckering evergreen shrub with heads of 75 cm (30 in) long, filamentous, blue-green, strappy leaves. It is fully hardy, though in cultivation it benefits from a sheltered position away from winter winds. Y. filamentosa is readily distinguished from other yucca species by white, thready filaments along the leaf margins.[7] Flower stems up to 3 m (10 ft) tall bear masses of pendulous cream flowers in early summer.[3] They are pollinated by the yucca moth Tegeticula yuccasella.[8][9]
Y. filamentosa is closely related to Yucca flaccida and it is possible they should be classified as a single species.[3]
Cultivation
Y. filamentosa is widely cultivated in mild temperate and subtropical climates as a broadleaved evergreen plant. 'Bright Edge', a dwarf cultivar with yellow-margined foliage and creamy flowers tinged with green, has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.[10]
Other cultivars include:
- 'Golden Sword' - similar to 'Bright Edge', but larger.
- 'Ivory Tower' - creamy white flowers tinged with green.
- 'Color Guard' - broad yellow stripes all year, plus red stripes in the winter.
Other uses
.jpg)
The leaves, stems and roots of this plant can be used to stun fish.[11] The Cherokee used it for this purpose.[12]
References
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Yucca filamentosa. |
- ↑ Linnaeus, Species Plantarum 1: 319. 1753.
- ↑ Yucca filamentosa. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Yucca filamentosa". Flora of North America.
- ↑ Yucca filamentosa. NatureServe. 2012.
- ↑ Yucca filamentosa. Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).
- ↑ Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
- ↑ The Reader's Digest Gardeners' Encyclopedia of Plants and Flowers. Reader's Digest Association. Sydney. 1999.
- ↑ Marr, D. L., et al. (2000). Pollen dispersal in Yucca filamentosa (Agavaceae): the paradox of self-pollination behavior by Tegeticula yuccasella (Prodoxidae). American Journal of Botany 87(5), 670-77.
- ↑ Wunderlin, R. P. 1998. Guide to the Vascular Plants of Florida i–x, 1–806. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.
- ↑ "RHS Plant Selector - Yucca filamentosa 'Bright Edge'". Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- ↑ Duffy, K. (2004). Harvesting Nature's Bounty, Second Edition. City: Bookman Pub. ISBN 1-59453-294-X.
- ↑ Yucca filamentosa. Native American Ethnobotany. University of Michigan, Dearborn.
External links
- Yucca filamentosa. USDA PLANTS.