Plant #1





This seems short to be Adam's Needle (Yucca filamentosa). The plant is about 3 feet tall in bloom.
Edit: This plant is 50-51 inches tall.

does it have the little "filaments" (hence the name) on the leaves? A dead give away with adam's needle are the little threads that sort of curl off the edges of the leaves.

Just a total guess, but maybe a young (or mini var) of Yucca gloriosa?
Sorry, don't have time to do more research right now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y...

Edit: Didn't see any white threads (filaments) until I looked very closely at the 4th pic, then it appears there may be some?
Also, Adam's Needle is a catch-all, common name for different types of yuccas (filamentosa, gloriosa, etc.), kind of like "Spanish Dagger."

Maybe Yucca gloriosa var. tristis, syn. Yucca recurvifolia, Curve-leaf Yucca.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y...

Their are a few very short small white filaments, but not many. I will take more pictures tomorrow morning. I have another plant that does have several fibers, but I was waiting for it to bloom to try and ID it. Here is a picture of my other plant.
Plant # 2

Yep-Filamentosa, by the look of it.. My flowering stems reach 6ft and are always a talking point at the summer flower shows

Looks like Yucca flaccida to me, but even the experts disagree on the taxonomy of Yuccas.

Weak-Leaf Yucca (Yucca flaccida)

I measured today in the daylight and was wrong about the height. It is about 50-51 inches tall. I apologize. I did not realize how much it had grew. I do not think it could be Flaccid Leaf Yucca (Yucca flaccida) because of my mistake on the height. Am i correct about this? @kentpfeiffer

Plant # 1







Plant #2







Edit: Plant # 1 has whitish green buds and some white filaments
Plant # 2 has pinkish green buds with white tips and lots of white filaments

Are you saying both plants are Adam's Needle (Yucca filamentosa) or just plant # 1 or plant # 2? @gwhizz

You could just call both both Adam's Needle since it's a pretty generic name.
Both appear to maybe be a type of filamentosa, but like Kent said yuccas are one of those plants that even experts disagree on...

Edit: Just to clarify - Some experts call flaccida a type of filamentosa, some call it a separate species.

I thought plant # 1 might be Adam's Needle (Yucca filamentosa) 'Hofer Blue'? I found that it flowers at 4 feet and seems to match the description.

I do not think plant # 1 is Yucca gloriosa var. tristis, syn. Yucca recurvifolia, Curve-leaf Yucca because of the blooms already being open. I found a few sources that say Yucca gloriosa var. tristis blooms in late summer/early fall. I also don't think plant #2 can be Yucca gloriosa var. tristis because it is about to bloom.

tiptonla said:I measured today in the daylight and was wrong about the height. It is about 50-51 inches tall. I apologize. I did not realize how much it had grew. I do not think it could be Flaccid Leaf Yucca (Yucca flaccida) because of my mistake on the height. Am i correct about this? @kentpfeiffer

I wouldn't worry too much about the height, it varies quite a bit from plant to plant and with environmental factors. (The database entry is wrong, by the way, 2 - 3 feet would be the typical height of the foliage, but the inflorescence is usually in the 4 - 6 foot range. I'll get that fixed shortly, thanks for bringing it to my attention). Yuccas are a tough one because there is so much variability from population to population, and even between individuals within a population. Taxonomists don't even agree on how many species of yucca there are. I suspect it's going to take some extensive DNA testing to sort it all out.

That said, it's pretty likely either Y. flaccida, or Y. filamentosa. I lean towards Y. flaccida, but could easily be wrong.

Please note, I later noted The similarities betw Hofer Blue and the Flaccida - Plant 2 should or looks like Filamentosa.. ... Don't lose sleep on it, its a brilliant example nomatter what ... yucca yucca yucca-that's all folks!

@KentPfeiffer
Kent, just so you know, this plant grows all across Kentucky - you'll find them in old homestead gardens and sometimes along the roadsides. They love it so much here, they never let go, no matter if you dig them up and toss them. This one came from my great grandmother's garden in Bardstown years ago, nearer to tiptonla than I am, but looks very much the same. Mine have been blooming for about a week, even those that I totally tried to kill last fall. Ugh. I don't mind a few of them, but oh my . . . they multiply quickly and often.

One time a local nursery was using them as spikes in the center of a planter display and I asked where he had bought them. He told me they came from his grandmother's farm, said he has hundreds of them. I swear they never die. But I do like them for background and for their height. Their foliage is pretty nice too.

Do you ever eat the flowers, Sharon? That's one way to slow down their reproduction. The pistil (the greenish white column in the center of the flower) is the best part, but the flower petals are edible, too. The petals have a hint of a soapy taste but, if your palate is geared towards wild fruit, you would probably enjoy them. In this part of the world, people used to pickle the pistils, like tiny cucumbers, but I don't know of anyone who still does it.

Yucca glauca is the native species here, but Yucca filamentosa is commonly grown as a landscape plant and has escaped from cultivation in southeast Nebraska.

They did not grow so freely grow back in the depths of the mountains when I was learning about the 'edibles', Kent, and if I didn't eat them then, I haven't eaten them today. I might try that, though, since they are in full bloom. Soapy sounds much like the flavor of Bouncing Bet, Saponaria officinalis, I think.

I also think Yucca filamentosa is what's here, but not so much in the far eastern part of KY. Major difference in climate and I suspect it prefers this warmer drier climate that's far west. (Not so dry right now, thinking of building an ark.)

So interesting about the pickled pistils! But I don't think I'll try it.
Thanks!

Yuccas are usually called "soap weeds" around here because they contain relatively high concentrations of saponins, particularly in their roots. Both the native people and the early white settlers used Yucca roots to make soap. There must be a small amount of saponins in the flowers because you can definitely taste a hint of soap, but the other flavors make them worth eating.

I've found that people who grew up eating only domesticated plants, especially if they all came from a supermarket, have a hard time eating most wild plants. Plants naturally contain a number of bitter, sour, etc. compounds that have steadily been bred out in favor of sugar. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but there's a complexity to the flavor of wild plants that's sometimes lacking in domesticated ones. I'm certainly in a tiny minority of people who feel that way, though.

Anyway, I knew from your wonderful stories that you grew up with wild plants so thought I'd point you at another one.

Much appreciated, Kent. You do know I'm getting ready to get back out to the garden right now.
Daylilies are also in bloom and I always nibble my daylilies. The yuccas are right beside the daylily garden!
I'll let you know what I think.

Tiptonla, you got much more than you asked for, didn't you?

I find all of this very interesting. I enjoy learning which plants are eatable and what a specific plant has been used for in the past. I do eat wild plants on hikes sometimes, but usually not out of my flower bed.