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Yucca plants are a genus of perennial shrubs and trees from the family of Asparagaceae; they come in around 40 different varieties that each have a set of unique characteristics. Yucca is the kind of plant that grows in hot and dry places in America and the Caribbean. Most of the yucca varieties need only two things to grow- a lot of sunshine and dry sandy soil. They are known for their circular arrangement of tough evergreen leaves, which are pointed and sword-shaped and can add a tropical vibe to any place.
If you are fascinated by yucca plants and want to add them to your landscape but are not sure which variety to choose, here is a complete guide on the 21 most popular types of yucca plants to choose from.
1. Yucca Gloriosa
Yucca Gloriosa is popularly known as a Spanish dagger because of its sharp blade-like leaves. It flowers in summer and can grow up to the height of 2.5m. The leaves are striped and edged with creamy yellow borders that define each leaf individually. The leaves are so sharp that it is not safe for pets. So, if you are a pet parent, it is recommended not to plant Yucca gloriosa in your garden.
2. Yucca Aloifolia
Yucca aloifolia is a slow-growing yucca tree that usually grows in sand dunes and extremely hot climates. It is super hardy, which makes it tolerant of frost, heat, salt spray, or drought. The plant grows upright and can reach up to a height of 5 meters. The leaves look like aloe with stiff foliage and sharp spines, hence the name “aloifolia”. It blossoms with beautiful white pendulous flowers which have a hint of purple.
3. Yucca Flaccid
Yucca flaccida is a spineless shrub that produces foliage to form clumps. The leaves of these yucca plants are thin, weak, flexible, and smooth. Leaves at the outer layer of the plant keep bending back to give a plant a floppy/flaccid look. The yucca yields clusters of beautiful bell-shaped white flowers on tall stalks in the month of summer. These flowers, along with their produced fruits, are edible and very delicious.
4. Yucca Filamentosa
Popularly known as Adam’s needle, Yucca filamentosa is an evergreen shrub with thin, sword-shaped foliage with sharp needle-like tips. The leaves have tiny thread-like filaments curled around them, which look to be peeled from the plant. The plant blooms in late spring or early summer with gorgeous bell-shaped white flowers on tall stalks that rise tall from the centre, well above the leaves giving the plant a unique look.
5. Yucca Rostrata
Yucca rostrata is called one of the most beautiful yucca plants to add to your garden because of its pom pom-like look made from hundreds of leaves that have pale blue-green colour and sharp points. This yucca grows in tree form, with circular leaves arranged on top of the trunk. The leaves are comparatively soft to other types of yucca plants. Yucca rostrata blooms in late spring with white flowers on stalks that are yellow or orange.
6. Yucca Whipplei
Yucca Whipplei is an evergreen shrub with dense and trunkless foliage with narrow, sharply pointed, 3 feet long leaves. It looks extremely beautiful when it flowers after five years of maturity. The flowers come in summer on stalks that are around 8-12 feet tall and yield hundreds of white bell-shaped flowers with a mix of purple. These flowers smell exotic and look even more so, making them the perfect addition to any space.
7. Yucca Baccata
Yucca baccata is known as banana yucca because of its flesh and sweet seed pods, which are the size and shape of a banana. This yucca plant appears as one stemless plant that eventually grows in clumps of short stems with leaves that are stiff and sword-like. Attractive clusters of white-red flowers appear in spring which bears fleshy, banana-like fruits that are edible and are used for cooking various delicacies in different parts of the world.
8. Yucca Brevifolia
Yucca brevifolia is an impressive view with its short trunk, hefty branches, and round top. It is a large, upright yucca tree with stiff, narrow, and sharply pointed leaves that are clustered on the branch tips. The stem and trunk are covered with remains of dead leaves. This yucca tree type grows slowly and can live a long life of up to 150 years. It also can bear white and green coloured flowers during the spring season.
9. Yucca Glauca
Yucca glauca is an evergreen tender plant that is also known as soapweed yucca. It has very thin and narrow foliage of the leaves that looks grass-like. A rapidly growing stalk of flowers rises above from the centre of the leaf cluster and yields attractive white, bell-shaped thick flowers. The leaf structure and beautiful flower stalks of yucca glauca make it highly ornamental and a perfect landscape addition.
10. Yucca Schidigera
Yucca schidigera is a small yucca tree with a dense crown of spirally arranged leaves that looks like bayonets. The dead leaves cover the bark and make it look brown and very rough. It can grow up to 5 meters in height. Bell-shaped white flowers grow in compact clusters above the leaves on a sturdy stalk. It grows slowly, lives long, and can be a magnificent addition to your garden.
11. Yucca Elata
Yucca elata is a perennial tree-like plant that carries evergreen foliage of thin, linear leaves with white margins and pointed tips. The leaves form a dense cluster on the top of the thick tree trunk. In late spring or early summer, the Yucca yields striking clusters of white flowers on a stalk that rises 4-6 feet above the leaves. It can be used for a variety of purposes, but it is most known for its roots and trunks, which are used to make soaps and shampoos.
12. Yucca Thompsoniana
Yucca Thompsoniana is a thick and wide desert plant that can grow up to 15 feet in height. It had wide, tough leaves that grew in a circular formation on top of the trunk. During summer, it produces tall spikes of creamy white blossoms that grow about 5 feet above the green foliage. It can naturally stay tidy with no brown or shaggy leaves hanging down. It is often confused with yucca rostrata, but they are different.
13. Yucca Angustissima
Yucca angustissima is a hardy plant; its foliage is compact, formed of numerous thin leaves which are slightly broader in the middle and pointy at the tips. It mostly stays trunkless but occasionally forms a short, thin trunk. Its leaves are densely covered in white threads along the edges, which contrasts the green foliage. This yucca flowers in summer on a tall stalk, where the green capsule fruits come in a cluster of three.
14. Yucca Constricta
Yucca constricta is commonly known as “Buckley’s yucca”. It is a stemless plant with bright green leaves that are narrow, thin, and flexible and generally point upwards but do not follow any circular pattern. As the plant grows older, it forms vast clumps and a short woody trunk. This yucca looks extremely beautiful with its tall flower stalk with open blossoms and trailing stems with more than one head.
15. Yucca Filifera
Yucca filifera is extraordinarily tough, architectural, and very easy to grow. It is a branching tree and can grow up to a massive 10 meters in height with leaves that grow at the end of the stem. Leaves are rigid, narrow, and long, covered with thin white thread filament. The plants grow slowly and take several years to take their massive form. The flower stalks hang from the tree in a bunch of white flowers.
16. Yucca Gigantea
Yucca gigantea is one of the very few types of yucca that can be grown indoors. Though their original form is giant, they are super easy to grow and can be grown as a single stem in pots. Its evergreen leaves are soft and spineless, which makes it human and pets friendly. It has branched trunks that thicken over time and look like an elephant’s foot, and for the same reason, it is also called “yucca elephantipes”.
17. Yucca Cernua
Yucca cernua is popularly known as nodding yucca because of its drooping, unique flowers. It is rare and gorgeous, with blue-green foliage. After the plant matures, an 8-10 foot tall flower stalk appears above the leaves in spring with a big white flower bunch. The flower stalk is so tall that it appears like a pole, and that is why this yucca is often called “pole vaulter” in some areas.
18. Yucca Rupicola
Yucca rupicola is an evergreen shrub that grows 2- 3 meters tall. It is usually unbranched and sometimes bends over and touches the ground. Its leaves are soft and flexible with a red margin and sharply pointed tips. Leaves of yucca rupicola are curly in shape, which looks remarkable, and the old, lower leaves often bend downwards. Its bell-shaped, white drooping flowers grow in late spring on a stalk that rises from the centre of the leaves.
19. Yucca Harrimaniae
Yucca harrimaniae is a perennial shrub that slowly multiplies and forms its colony. It is small in size and usually grows low on the ground. The leaves grow from one centre and are green with brown edges that have curly, thread-like white filaments. The flowers grow in numbers from the rosette on a stalk. Beautiful wide and full flowers with a hint of green or purple hang from the stalk in loaded clusters.
20. Yucca Baileyi
Yucca bailey is a slow-growing small plant with a single, stem-like trunk covered in sword-shaped greenish-blue leaves arranged in a circular form. One plant can grow fifteen leaf clusters at once in its growing years. The unique characteristic of yucca bailey is its flower stalk rises just to the height of leaves or slightly above it. Greenish-white, bell-shaped, and succulent flowers bloom in spring.
21. Yucca Arkansana
Yucca arkansana is one of the smaller yuccas in the family and is not harmful to be planted indoors because of its soft blue-green leaves. Its flower stalk is short compared to all other yuccas, but its flowers are thick, bell-shaped, and beautiful. Each flower has three green petals and three sepals to protect the buds that bloom later. The flowers and stem of yucca arkansana are edible in salads and pickles.
From Desert To Your Garden
Yuccas are desert plants that add ornamental value to the gardens. These are the most popular 21 types of yucca plants that can be planted indoors and outdoors according to their different characteristics. Though, most of them cannot be planted indoors due to their huge size and pointy, rigid leaves. Most of the yuccas are very tough and have a long life. Some even can live more than 100 years.
Yucca plants are easy to plant and easy to take care of because of their tough nature. Just plant them in dry, well-draining soil, and they will grow on their own.
So, if you are someone who is looking for evergreen, long-living plants that do not need much of your attention, yuccas are for you!
