Help Identifying Plant

Nifty

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We started out with one of these and it broke at the base. We put them in water and they started to propagate very easily. We've now got a bunch in pots and planted all over our yard.

They grow really easily and propagate very well. My only complaint is that the stalks (trunks?) aren't very strong and the plants can snap in two relatively easily.

Here's a pic. If nobody has any clues based on this pic I can take some more.

Thanks!!!


(the ones on the left are some that I just transplanted and were too tighly packed into a smaller container and were struggling. The one on the right is from a hacked off piece that was out in the sun for about a year and then I noticed it was sprouting so I put it in a pot:

2_plants.jpg
 

simple life

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I am not an expert by any means, but those look exactly like my spanish daggers. I have no idea what the formal name for those are.
When I moved in 15 years ago they were all over an area in the front yard, I asked a neighbor and he told me that they were called spanish daggers.
They multiply like crazy and grow up through all my new shubs, the lawn etc.
I dig them out with a shovel since these aren't going to just pull right up.
They grow VERY deep.
If you let them grow they will get a very tall stalk in the middle with a white flower.
The problem is they multiply so fast that they grow up righ through each other and on top of each other and then they don't flower.
They have to be constantly thinned in order for them to flower.
They can be pretty if you have the space for them and keep them thinned.
I don't let them get that far, I can't afford too.
I tried once and they were all over my front lawn.
I spent an hour digging some up the other day.
Like I said if you can keep them somewhere you don't mind spreading, and keep on top of thinning them, you might like having them.
There flower stalks get to be 5 feet tall sometimes.
 

simple life

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I found this:

Long-trunked Spanish Dagger
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Liliopsida

Order: Liliales

Family: Agavaceae

Genus: Yucca

Species: Y. gloriosa


Binomial name
Yucca gloriosa
L.
Yucca gloriosa is a shrub of the family Agavaceae, and of the genus Yucca. Common names include
 

simple life

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And this:
Pictures won't show up when I copy over, but just type in spanish dagger and alot of info shows up.


Common name: Spanish Dagger/Bayonet, Adam's Needle, Palm Lily, Roman Candle Manipuri: যেরুম লৈ Yerum lei
Botanical name: Yucca aloifolia Family: Agavaceae (agave family)

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A very ornamental plant - this evergreen shrub grows to about 2-3 m. Usually it is a single unbranched fleshy stem with a terminal crown of numerous stiff, fleshy leaves tipped with a hard spine, resemble daggers. These leaves are around 70 cm long, 5-8 cm wide, grey-green. The tall-conical flowering spike appears in late summer, carrying numerous pendulous, creamy-white, cup-shaped flowers, sometimes tinged outside with crimson. The Manipuri name Yerum lei means egg-flower, and is inspired from the half open flowers which look like white eggs. Fruits are seed-cases, around 5 cm long, with tiny glossy seeds, 0.5 cm long. Plants do not flower every year, requiring hot summers to initiate flowering. The flowers are produced in the autumn and are often damaged by early frosts. The scent of the flowers is most pronounced
 

Nifty

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hmmm.... I've never seen them flower in the 5 years that we've had them. I do know of a similar plant that shoots up a stem in the middle with flowers on top, but I don't think this is it.

If it isn't a spanish dagger, it is probably related.
 

simple life

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Could be a relative like you said. Mine have only gotten flowers twice in the 15 years I have been here.
The last time was like 7 years ago.
I was told two different things, someone said they only grow every few years and someone else told me they will only grow if they have a significant amount of ground area to themselves for each plant.
Maybe its in the same yucca family.
 

whatnow?

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I was going to guess yucca, too. Maybe in the same family. Mine didn't bloom or had sad blooms for a few years, but that got better with feeding them.
 

Tutter

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I'd also say, yuccas.

Are you growing them because you like the basic look, or....?

When they are mature they will bloom annually, if you live in the correct climate. In Southern California ours never missed a year.

Yes, they are pretty good at rebounding! :)
 

Nifty

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Tutter said:
Are you growing them because you like the basic look, or....?
Great question!!! I think I'm growing them because they are easy, don't die, and keep propagating, and aren't terribly ugly. :D
 
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