Yucca aloifolia is the type species for the genus Yucca. Common names include aloe yucca, dagger plant, and Spanish bayonet. It grows in sandy soils along the coast. It is native to the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the US and Mexico and Bermuda.
Yucca aloifolia, called dagger plant as well as Spanish bayonet, is an erect arborescent species, simple or densely branched, with at its termination or the end of each branch a rosette of very sharp-pointed, rigid leaves, their margins finely-toothed, but without loose filaments. It sometimes attains a height of 7(-8) meters, but under severe climatic conditions it will usually grow as a robust shrub. The leaves are fairly thin, dagger-shaped and very sharp-tipped. The stems are covered in the remains of the old, dry leaves. Inflorescences are borne erectly, but many widely cultivated forms of the species are shy to flower if grown away from their habitat. The flowers are large, and showy, waxy and white sometimes tinged purplish, so that the plant is popular as an ornamental. Unlike Yucca elephantipes, the stems of Y. aloifolia often topple over to snake along the ground or over surrounding plants, unless they are mechanically supported. Invasive in Spain and Australia.
