Yucca rupicola

Yucca tortifolia, Yucca tortilis

Twistleaf Yucca, Texas Yucca, Twisted Leaf Soapwort, Rock Yucca

Agavaceae

This common yucca is native to the dry grasslands of north central Texas growing in poor rocky soil.

one-gallon

2-3'

2-3'

0 to 5°F; -17.7 to -14.9°C

High heat tolerance

Full sun to very light shade

Moderately drought tolerant.

Remove spent flowering plants as desired. Divide and replant offsets if desired.

Yucca rupicola makes a nice bedding plant. It also works well with grasses in open meadow native gardens and looks great with rocks in xeriscape plantings and informal borders.

This plant can be grown from seed (soak seed in tepid water for 24 hours to shorten germination time) or from plantlets offset at the base.

None.

This is a nice low-growing clumping yucca with bright green narrow leaves. Leaves have thin yellow to brownish margins of tiny teeth and older leaves take on a interesting wavy shape. Over time, yucca rupicola forms colonies of rosettes, lacking trunks above-ground but producing a branched caudex under the surface. This plant can take wind well but it struggles in salty maritime environments. Mature plants bloom in spring with a five foot tall branched flower stalk from which hang lantern-like white to greenish white blooms. These are pollinated by a moth and are eaten by wildlife (as are the fruits which follow). Native Americans also ate the fruits, flowers and flower stalks of this plant. The specific epithet rupicola means ‘living near rocks’.