Mound-lily Yucca
Yucca gloriosa
Found in dunes, shell middens, also regularly cultivated and often persistent or weakly escaped around old homesites inland. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Native to Florida. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 82%
- Height
- 6–16 feet
- Spread
- 6–8 feet
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Dry to moist
Space about 7 ft apart from its recorded spread. Enter your bed size for a count
Will it fit your yard?
At a glance
- Life cycle
- Woody perennial
- Fruiting season
- November to December
Not yet recorded · Leaves · Bloom
Bloom: NC species account not read yet.
Leaves: no source found yet.
Recorded in 8 Florida counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.
Who uses this plant?
17CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · Yucca
- Amyelois transitellaNavel Orangeworm
- Cryptothelea gloveriiOrange Bagworm
- Erinnyis elloEllo Sphinx
- Megathymus cofaquiCofaqui Giant-Skipper, Southern Yucca Skipper
- Megathymus yuccaeYucca Giant-Skipper, Colorado Yucca Skipper
- Melitara prodenialisEastern Cactus-Boring Moth, Eastern Blue Cactus Borer
- Prodoxus decipiensBogus Yucca Moth
- Spodoptera dolichosSweetpotato Armyworm, Dolichos Armyworm, Large Cotton Armyworm
- Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
Show all 17
- Spodoptera latifasciaOrange-Striped Armyworm, Velvet Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera ornithogalliYellow-Striped Armyworm Moth, Cotton Cutworm
- Tegeticula yuccasellaYucca Moth
- Xylesthia pruniramiellaClemens' Bark Moth, Speckled Xylesthia
- Holcocera guilandinae
- Tegeticula cassandra
- Tegeticula intermedius
1BeesSoutheastern regional records
Southeastern regional records · Yucca
Individual names are not available yet.
Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
0Specialist beesPollen specialists
1BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Yucca
- Cyrtonyx montezumaeMontezuma Quail
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
No records yet · Ants · Beetles · Flies · Adult butterflies / moths · Other wasps · Other insects
Plant details
- Family
- Agavaceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 7a–11b
- Flower color
- Cream, purple, red or white
- Fruit begins
- November
- Fruit ends
- December
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Flower color · “Cream, purple, red or white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Fruit begins · “November” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Fruit ends · “December” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
- Hardiness · “Zones 7a–11b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “6–16 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Life cycle · “Woody perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox (ranked first; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center differs)
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Moist; Occasionally dry; Very dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “6–8 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Also known as
Mound lily Yucca
Conservation status
| Florida rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | G4? |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Will it fit your yard?
Check this plant against your county, sun and soil moisture. Conditions are checked in your browser.
Sources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- USDA PLANTS
- Vascular Plants of North Carolina (NC Natural Heritage Program)
- NatureServe Explorer
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications