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Asparagaceae
Lord's Candle
Hesperoyucca whipplei
Spectacular sacrifice and patient culmination.
- Family
- Asparagaceae
- Genus
- Hesperoyucca
- Native to
- southern California, Baja California
- Bloom season
- Spring, Early Summer
- Type
- monocarpic perennial
- Height
- 100–450 cm (flower stalk)
- Sunlight
- full sun
- Soil
- dry, rocky, well-drained
- Water
- very low; drought-tolerant
- Hardiness
- 7–10
- Lifespan
- monocarpic; 5–15 years to bloom, then dies
Did you know
- The plant spends up to 15 years as a rosette of dagger-like leaves before sending up one massive flower stalk and dying.
- The flower stalk rockets up to 4.5 meters tall and bears thousands of white bell-shaped flowers.
- It is pollinated exclusively by the California yucca moth in one of nature's most famous mutualisms.
- Native Chumash and Tongva peoples ate the roasted flower stalks, which taste like asparagus.
- A single plant can produce over 4,000 flowers on its one-and-only bloom stalk.
Color meanings
White
divine illumination
Cream
patient glory