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Yucca aloifolia L.
Spanish Bayonet
Aloe Yucca
Spanish Dagger
Florida native
A frequent shrub of coastal strands, dry thickets and sandhills in much of the peninsula and the central panhandle, plus Escambia County. Absent from many inland counties. Ranges throughout the southeastern coastal plain from Texas into North Carolina, more prevalent near the coast.
Yucca aliofolia is an evergreen, forming clumps of stems densely covered with overlapping leaves. The leaves are stiff and dagger-like, both in shape and having an extremely sharp tip. The leaves are mostly dark green, sometimes grayish near the tip and the base, with margins often containing short, stubby teeth (spinulose-serrate), although sometimes entire. The showy white flowers are borne in a dense terminal cluster rising above the leaves. Individual flowers are pendulous with a pedicle about 2cm (3/4 in.) long. The fruit is a leathery, fleshy berry up to 13cm (5 in.) long and 3cm (1-1/8 in.) wide and turning black when mature.
The beetles photographed in some of the Spanish bayonet flowers are a species of comb-clawed beetles in the genus Hymenorus.
Yucca aloifolia is a member of the Agavaceae - Century-plant family.
Other species of the Yucca genus in the Wild Florida Photo database:
Yucca filamentosa - ADAM'S NEEDLE
Yucca flaccida - WEAK-LEAF YUCCA
Yucca gloriosa - MOUNDLILY YUCCA
Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants (Institute for Systemic Botany) profile for this species
iNaturalist profile for this species
USDA Plant Profile for this species
For more information on this species, visit the following link:
Flora of North America page for this species
Date record last modified: Sep 30, 2025
