The beautiful evergreen yucca plant is prized by flower growers for its graceful trunk and beautiful dark or bluish-green leaves on top. Depending on the species, the stem may have several growing points and branch beautifully, and the leaves may be erect or drooping. The tree is unpretentious and caring for it is not difficult. Therefore, yucca is often chosen to decorate a room, office or create a composition. There are many varieties of trees, but only a few specimens are used for indoor and garden cultivation, the distinctive features of which can be read in this article.
Table of Contents
Yucca plant – General Characteristics.
A beautiful perennial plant belongs to and grows naturally in the subtropics of North America. The low stem of the tree does not branch or may branch slightly. On some stems, it is so short that it is practically invisible and beautiful leaves rise directly above the ground. The large erect inflorescences are very similar to panicles. They grow from the center of the outlet and can be up to two meters long. The inflorescences consist of drooping white bell-shaped flowers. Each flower reaches seven centimetres long. The fruit is a box, inside which black seeds form.
Yucca plant
A tree that looks like a fake palm tree in spacious rooms can grow up to 4 meters in height. Only adult plants flower. Even with proper location and good home care, flowering is rare. Experienced growers, when the plant reaches the required age, stimulate the formation of buds by organising a dormant period in winter. For this, the yucca is kept indoors.
The trunk of a young, slowly growing tree can be given an interesting shape by a certain pruning method and can be used in compositions along with home bonsais. A tall adult plant looks spectacular in a single planting or in combination with palm trees, ficuses and large crops with beautiful flowers.
Aloe and elephant yucca can be grown in the same container with similar drought-resistant plants. It can be pelargonium, Kalanchoe, sansevier. In the open field, yucca filamentosa is grown, which is a tree with dark green leaves.
Yucca plant Characteristics.
The genus Yucca unites more than 30 tree-like perennials. Only some of them are grown at home.
In old age, a tree with a height of 4 to 8 metres resembles a huge elephant’s foot. The plant grows in Central America, where it grows slowly, taking the form of an upright tree or shrub. Distinctive features of the yucca elephant:
- Strongly branched tree trunk.
- Tough, fibrous leaves that grow at the ends of the stems.
- Leathery, elongated-lanceolate, light green leaf blade that reaches a length of 50-100 cm, has a sharp tip at the end and toothed edges.
- The paniculate inflorescences consist of many hemispherical flowers and grow up to a metre long.
The most popular among plants of this species is the Variegata variety, which is distinguished by leaves with a white-yellowish edge.
An unpretentious and widespread plant in nature can be found in Bermuda, in the southern part of North America, in Jamaica, in Central America. Aloe Leaf Yucca is Different:
- Slow growth.
- Up to 8 metres high.
- A tree-shaped stem, which branches strongly in adult specimens.
- Rosettes with fibrous leaves located at the top of the branches.
- Dark green leathery lanceolate leaves with toothed edges and a thorn at the top.
- Paniculate inflorescence up to one and a half metres long.
- Bell-shaped flowers with creamy white petals of purple hue.
The two-metre tree grows in the western United States. You can find out by the following characteristics:
- Short trunk, one metre long, with leathery, fibrous, greenish-blue leaves and white or gray edges.
- Metre-long paniculate inflorescence growing from a rosette of adult plants.
- Creamy-white flowers similar to bells, which consist of a large number of inflorescences.
An almost stemless plant native to North America. The root system penetrates deep into the soil, so the tree can withstand short-term frosts of -20 ° C or more. Filamentous yucca planted in open ground grows thanks to root suckers.
Leaves of this are distinguished by a bluish-green colour, thin curly white threads at the pubescent edges and a pointed tip. They reach 70 cm in length. Panicle-shaped inflorescence and consists of drooping yellowish-white flowers. The seeds ripen in a round box 5 cm in diameter. Its germination can be obtained only after artificial pollination. The plant has a variegated shape with white or yellow variegated leaves.
In natural conditions, the plant grows in the southeastern United States and looks like a two-metre tree. Its stem can be simple or weakly branched. The greenish-blue leaves reach 60 cm in length, have a lanceolate shape, teeth on the edges and a sharp thorn at the top. From the rosettes of adult specimens, paniculate inflorescences grow, leathery to the touch. They are 2.5 metres long and consist of drooping flowers with creamy petals.
Strongly branched at the top, a powerful tree reaches a height of 8-10 cm. The densely located dark green leathery leaves are only 25-30 cm long. Threads hang along its edges, which is why the second name of the tree is yucca yucca. The hanging, branched, multi-flowered inflorescence grows up to 1-2 metres and consists of cream-coloured flowers.
The 3-4 m tall tree grows in the wild in southern Arizona. Hard, straight, smooth leaves 2-4 cm wide and 20-50 cm long that taper at the base and have a bluish tint. They are covered with fine threads along the edges. The folded inflorescence is a loose panicle.
The slow-growing evergreen tree is native to the southern United States and Mexico. On a slightly branched stem, up to 5 m high, slightly curved bluish-green leathery leaves are collected in dense rosettes. They grow up to a metre in length and have an elongated-lanceolate shape. The tree blooms in summer with hanging creamy-white, bell-shaped flowers, which are collected in metre-long paniculate inflorescences.
. A low plant up to one and a half metres high is distinguished by a short trunk, fibrous, rigid, simple or branched leaves and an elongated, lanceolate leaf plate. The grey-green leaves with a prickly spine at the end and jagged edges grow up to 90 cm in length.
In natural conditions, a tree can grow up to seven metres. Numerous linear leaves up to 60 cm long are densely packed. Weakly ribbed leaf plates with a sharp tip are distinguished by narrow white edges with a large number of thin filaments. The panicle-shaped inflorescence grows up to two metres.
Yucca spike
A plant with a branched crown and a thick trunk grows up to three metres. Numerous long, thin, leathery leaves are only 1 cm wide. The flat, striped, biconvex leaf plate is distinguished by yellow toothed edges and a sharp subulate apex. White flowers are collected in a panicle inflorescence.
Shortleaf Yucca
The tree is native to Arizona and southeastern California, where it grows in open, dry areas. In height, it can reach 9 metres, in connection with which it has a second name – giant yucca. On a highly branched trunk with a diameter of 50 cm, hard leaves are densely located. The 15-30 cm long leaf plates are triangularly widened towards the base and spiny at the apex. At the edges, the brown leaf plates are pale green. The short peduncle with a dense panicle consists of pale yellow flowers.
Yucca Whippla
Bushy plant native to California, Arizona and northwestern Mexico. The shortened stem has elongated-lanceolate hard fibrous leaves. They are collected in rosettes with a diameter of more than a metre and have a greyish-green colour. The leaf plate is distinguished by a spike at the end and serrated edges. The bell-shaped flowers have a delicate aroma and creamy white petals with a purple hue. They gather in a paniculate inflorescence up to two metres long. The monocarpic rosette of leaves blooms only once. After it dies, many processes begin to form at the base of the bush.
Features of Caring for Yucca.
The tree grows well in a bright, warm room near southern windows.
Air Temperature and Humidity Regime.
Optimal temperature for growing cassava.In winter, the tree should be kept in rooms with an air temperature of about + 10 ° C. The plant does not like drafts and hypothermia.
Aloe-leaf yucca and elephant yucca are undemanding to air humidity. Plant species sensitive to air humidity should be sprayed regularly.
Watering and Feeding.
Yucca CareThe frequency of watering yucca depends on the humidity and temperature of the room, the characteristics of the substrate, the size of the plant and the size of the pot. In the warm season, the tree is watered abundantly only after the top layer of soil has dried by . When plants are kept in a cool room in winter, watering is reduced. Otherwise, due to stagnant water in the soil, the roots will begin to rot and the tree will die. Therefore, it is better to dry the cassava than to pour it.
In spring and summer, the plant is fed every three weeks with special organic or mineral fertilisers. But best of all, yuccas respond to foliar feeding. To do this, the leaves are sprayed from the bottom with a solution of mineral fertiliser.
A tropical plant is unpretentious, but requires special attention and certain care. True lovers of beauty will enjoy caring for yucca, which can be an excellent decoration for an apartment or summer cottage.