Plant Guide > Trees > Yuccas > Spanish Bayonet Tree

Spanish Bayonet Tree

The Spanish Bayonet (Yucca aloifolia, Linn.) grows along the coast from North Carolina to Louisiana, preferring the borders of swamps or sand dunes, and moving inland on sandy soil. It is a low tree, rarely 25 feet high, with three or four main branches above the short, thick trunk. The leaves clothe the trunk until it is quite well grown, when they are found only on the branches, the newest ones clustered in rosettes at the ends. These bayonet-shaped leaves are smooth, dark green, about 2 feet long, stiff pointed, and saw toothed on each edge. The base of each widens into a crescent. Large panicles of flowers, leathery, white, purple tinged, are followed in autumn by green, soft, cucumber-like. fruits, 3 to inches long, which turn black and dry up on the stem. They are eaten by birds and occasionally by people. This yucca is very common in gardens. It is a fairly hardy species.