Spanish Bayonet

Description:

The Spanish Bayonet, also known as the Adams Needle, is an evergreen, perennial shrub. It has long and thick underground stems and rarely has an above ground stem. It also has long (up to 30 to 76 cm long and 2.5 cm wide), sword-shaped leaves with a point and long curly filamentous threads on the margins. They resemble certain plants, like palm trees, that usually grow in dry desert regions. They have bell-shaped flowers with broad ovate (egg-shaped) petals that hang loosely from a central spike, that is up to 1 to 4 meters tall (which I have not yet seen). The flowers usually appear in the late spring and summer and range in color from a creamy white to a pale yellow or green.

Habitat:

They are usually in hot and dry regions but they can also be in any open area. They can occur in dry sandy soils along the coast (where I found them), bluffs, thin woods, oldfields, and rocky and sandy places.

Notes:

When I first found it along the trail of York River State Park, I was surprised to find a plant that is more typical of plants found in hot dry regions than here in Williamsburg. It looked out of place in this environment. However I have learned that these plants can grow in costal areas, like the river next to the park, so that must explain how this plant was able to grow and survive in this region.