Agavaceae - Adam's Needle, spoonleaf Yucca, needle palm, Adamsnadel, **Fädige Palmlilie**

Native plant of the coastal regions from New Jersey to Florida, naturalized in South Europe, widely cultivated as garden plant.

This solitary evergreen stemless shrub has typical fibers at the edges of the leaves. Leaves are green to blue-green and rough on the bottom, 20 to 60 cm long and 2.5 to 3 cm wide. [[http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/F%C3%A4dige_Palmlilie]]

The far above the leaves beginning, branched inflorescence is 2 to 3 meters high. The hanging bell-shaped, white to cream-colored flowers have a length and a diameter of 4 to 8 cm. The flowering period extends from June to July. "They are pollinated by the yucca moth Tegeticula yuccasella." [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_filamentosa]]


"We identified volatiles from the floral headspace of Yucca filamentosa using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry and analyzed floral scent composition and variation among populations pollinated by different yucca moth species. Twenty-one scent compounds were repeatedly identified and most could be categorized into two major classes: (1) homoterpenes derived from the sesquiterpene alcohol nerolidol and (2) long chain aliphatic hydrocarbons. Two biosynthetic pathways are thus responsible for the majority of floral volatiles in Y. filamentosa. The homoterpene E-4,8-dimethylnona-1,3,7-triene, which is released systemically by higher plants upon herbivory, was the most abundant compound... The combination of unique compounds and low variation in the fragrance blend may reflect highly selective attraction of obligate pollinators to flowers. The observed lack of differentiation in floral scent can putatively explain high moth-mediated gene flow among sites, but it does not explain conservation of odor composition across populations with different pollinators." [Chemistry and geographic variation of floral scent in Yucca filamentosa (Agavaceae). Glenn P. Svensson, Michael O. Hickman Jr, Stefan Bartram, Wilhelm Boland, Olle Pellmyr and Robert A. Raguso, American Journal of Botany 92(10): 1624–1631. 2005] [[http://www.amjbot.org/content/92/10/1624.full.pdf+html]]