A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Mystery Plants? Tropical-looking spiny-leafed thing

Hi, Big Jim here:



a) What is it?
b) Is it particularly valuable?
c) if b = no, then would anyone mind if I disposed of it? It sits in the middle of my yard with razor sharp spines all up and down the leaves, and I am waiting for someone to shred themselves on it. :(

If it is of value, I will try and get someone to remove it for free.

Thanks for the help!

Big Jim

Kinda looks like yucca to me. It is REAL tough stuff. We had some at our house we sold and we had to wage a virtual war on it to get rid of it. One time hubby tried digging it up and made the mistake of throwing it down the hill in the lake--BIG mistake!! It took root there so then we had TWO areas of it to get rid of. Ended up chopping it down and putting stump rot on it--that finally got rid of it. For those who love this stuff, our yard was the "kid gathering place" and it was eating them alive--it HAD to go!!

Hello Big Jim
Looks like Pandanus utilis
or possibly another member of the same family
like Pandanus veitchii .
I know this plant by the common name "Screw Pine"
so called for the spiral growth pattern
(it is NO relative to Pines).
They can grow to become massive trees,
doubtless why it was planted with a lot of space to grow.

Not, to the best of my knowledge, particularly rare or valuable,
and it sure sounds like it's very badly sited for you.

Maybe you could list it on Freecycle? Or Craig's List?
Someone might jump at the chance to come and dig it out for you,
so that they can put it into their landscape
that would save you some work.

looks like yucca to me.but not the adams neddle.you don't have the hairs.Yep they DO have sharp edges.I've walked into mine before.I have 3 types.
you can relocate....or trash it.they re root easily.i know where a crop of them are growing someone tossed at edge of pond.

Thanks all! I'll have to look into whether anyone else would want it, and if not, I'll probably dispose of it. Big Jim needs room for his fruit trees and a fire pit.

Thanks again!

Hi Big Jim...

m not very sure ...but it looks like our local Pandan plant...Pandanus caricosus.... da leaves r processed n woven into mats... some locals in SE Asia use certain parts of da plant for medicinal purposes... da roots r supposed to b anti pyretic, expectorant n diuretic while da male inflorescence is supposed to b a cardiac tonic... of course i have never tried any of 'em!!