Yucca filamentosa Linnaeus. Common name: Curlyleaf Yucca, Spoonleaf Yucca. Phenology: Late Apr-early Jun; Sep-Oct. Habitat: Woodlands, forests, dunes, sandhills, roadsides, disturbed areas. Wooded margins of granite flatrocks and similar fire-shadow sites in sandhills. Also occasionally in coastal grasslands. Distribution: S. NJ south to GA, west to MS; escaped from cultivation over a broader area of e. United States.
Origin/Endemic status: Endemic
Taxonomy Comments: Ward (2011d) argued that this species should be recognized as distinct from Yucca flaccida and provided detailed explanations how to distinguish them.
Synonymy ⓘ: = Ar, Can, F, FNA26, K4, Mi, NE, NSProv, NY, POWO, S13, Tat, Va, W, WV, Ward (2004c), Ward (2011d); = Yucca filamentosa L. var. filamentosa — RAB; = Yucca smalliana Fernald — Il; > Yucca concava Haw. — S; < Yucca filamentosa L. — C, G, NS; > Yucca filamentosa L. — S; Yucca filamentosa L. Basionym: Yucca filamentosa L. 1753
Links to other floras: = Yucca filamentosa - FNA26
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Heliophily ⓘ: 7
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© Will Stuart | Original Image ⭷
© Keith Bradley | Original Image ⭷
© Alan Cressler: Yucca filamentosa, Stonewall Gneiss Outcrop, Serenbe, Fulton County, Georgia 1 by Alan Cressler source | Original Image ⭷
© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷
© Keith Bradley | Original Image ⭷
© Keith Bradley | Original Image ⭷
© Alan Cressler: yucca filamentosa smith-jones property van buren co tn 1 by Alan Cressler source | Original Image ⭷
© Bruce Sorrie | Original Image ⭷
© Emily Oglesby | Original Image ⭷
© Emily Oglesby | Original Image ⭷
© Scott Ward | Original Image ⭷Feedback
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Horticultural Information
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Height: 4-8 ft.
plant sale text: Adam's-needle has rosettes of stiff, blue-green evergreen leaves that, on a mature plant, may grow up to 2 1/2 feet long. Creamy white flowers are borne on upright stalks rising above the foliage. This is a hardy member of the agave family. Its native habitat is typically sand dunes and pine barrens of the coastal plain, though it is occasionally seen in the mountains, from North Carolina south to Georgia. The Catawba and Cherokee tribes used this species for a variety of medicinal uses and as a soap substitute.
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native range: southeastern United States
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