Spanish bayonet
Yucca aloifolia
Yucca aloifolia
I had the pleasure of meeting this plant while working one day in the Preserve. I was trimming a large salt bush when I ran right into it. That’s when I learned that there is a reason it is called a bayonet.
Yucca aloifolia, is a woody evergreen that can grow to the height of 5 to 10 feet. Aloifoliahas multiple trunks at the base with diameters of 3 to 5 inches; going up the woody trunks turn into herbaceous branches with whorls of sharp pointed strap like leaves that grow to about 20 inches in length and a width of two inches. Leaves are linear to lanceolate with serrated leaf margins. Young leaves which grow at the top are erect. Lower down are older leaves that are pointed horizontally. At the tips of the herbaceous branches are one or more flower stalks. On the stalks are clusters of bell –shaped flowers that droop downward. Aloifolia is a monocot. Monocots have a corolla of only three petals and a calyx of three sepals. Aloifofolia’s petals and sepals are whitish with a bit of purple. The petals and sepals are so similar they are called tepals, if laid out flat would measure about 4 inches in diameter. Aloifolia likes to grow on the beach sand dunes. The specimen in the picture, however, was not found on the beach. It grows down at the end of my street.
By Jim Rodwell
Yucca aloifolia, is a woody evergreen that can grow to the height of 5 to 10 feet. Aloifoliahas multiple trunks at the base with diameters of 3 to 5 inches; going up the woody trunks turn into herbaceous branches with whorls of sharp pointed strap like leaves that grow to about 20 inches in length and a width of two inches. Leaves are linear to lanceolate with serrated leaf margins. Young leaves which grow at the top are erect. Lower down are older leaves that are pointed horizontally. At the tips of the herbaceous branches are one or more flower stalks. On the stalks are clusters of bell –shaped flowers that droop downward. Aloifolia is a monocot. Monocots have a corolla of only three petals and a calyx of three sepals. Aloifofolia’s petals and sepals are whitish with a bit of purple. The petals and sepals are so similar they are called tepals, if laid out flat would measure about 4 inches in diameter. Aloifolia likes to grow on the beach sand dunes. The specimen in the picture, however, was not found on the beach. It grows down at the end of my street.
By Jim Rodwell
