Yucca Filamentosa
Thready-leaved Yucca; Nat. Ord. Liliaceæ.
This is of a more deciduous nature than Y. gloriosa, reclothing itself each spring more amply with foliage. In December, however, it is in fine form, and though it is a better flowering species than most of its genus, and to a fair extent valuable for its flowers, it will be more esteemed, perhaps, as a shrub of ornamental foliage. It came from Virginia in the year 1675.
The flowers are pretty, greenish-white, bell-shaped, and drooping: they are arranged in panicles, which, when sent up from strong plants, are, from their size, very attractive; but otherwise they are hardly up to the mark as flowers. The leaves in form are lance-shaped, concave, reflexed near the ends, and sharp-pointed. The colour is a yellowish-green, the edges are brown, and their substance is split up into curled filaments, which are sometimes 9in. or more long, and are blown about by every breeze. From these thready parts the species takes its name. It is seldom that this kind grows more than 4ft. high, but a greater number of offsets are produced from this than from any other of our cultivated Yuccas.
I know no better use for this kind than planting it on the knolly parts of rockwork, positions which in every way suit it, for it enjoys a warm, dry soil.
Y. f. variegata, as its name implies, is a form with coloured foliage. In the north it proves to be far from hardy, and therefore cannot be recommended for culture in the open garden. My reasons for mentioning it are that it is convenient to do so when the typical form is under notice, and that it is frequently spoken of as hardy. Subjects needing well selected positions, protection, and a mild winter in order to keep them alive from autumn to spring, can in no sense be considered hardy, even though they may be planted out of doors.
Flowering period, August to October.