It is a Yucca. I don't know how you take cuttings though as I haven't done it. Sorry.
Alison

Many thanks for your help.

I also received a reply from salt_cedar who said:

"This looks like Yucca gloriosa/elephantipes, depending on who you ask.

Let the cut stems dry for a week and pot up in a well drained potting mix or Cactus soil"

Hi,
a Yucca is a very robust plant. You can cut it off to around 30 cm and it will shoot again. The cut stem you can divide in several pieces and plant them in pots. After a couple of weeks they will thrive again and grow leaves.
Good luck
Shrimpy

I don't think this is a yucca their leaves are much more rigid than these. They certainly don't droop like this.

It certainly is a yucca, one of the most commonly grown indoor ones. That being said, my one which outgrew the house has been outdoors for the past couple of years and seems to be doing very well. A prolonged cold or wet winter might finish it off, though. I potted up a cutting in gritty compost in the greenhouse several weeks ago. Hopefully it will root.

I have a tree that looks like this, at least the trunk and the shapes of the leaves are the same. It's growing in a container outdoors on the balcony. At one point it had two trunks, (or one divided) one growing sideways and causing the tree to be overly lopsided and leaning, so I sawed that part off at the trunk and repotted it. It continued growing and began to sprout new branches.

Now, though, the leaves are turning yellow and brown, especially at the place where they come out of the trunk. It looks very sick. Could it be from lack of sun? too much rain? We've been having a very cold, wet spring and summer here in Portugal. There are also gnats flying around it.

Any ideas? Thanks!

OK, so this area of names is a mess! Yucca and Dracaena are closely related and the names are often used interchangeably in horticulture. Dracaena tends to have soft floppy leaves and is typically found as a houseplant. Yuccas tend to have stiff sharp leaves with sharp tips and you'll not find them much as houseplants. This looks like a Dracaena. I don't know them well but most likely either D. marginata or D. draco, both will grow into large trees in the right conditions.

Hi, hope no one minds me confusing the issue even more but this is a pic my Dracaena Drago or Dragon Tree taken last spring. It is one of three I have grown from seed from the Canaries, one of which's leaves have narrow red edges and the other two have light green edges to them. It's now 2.5 yrs old and it's form is very different from that shown in your pic JC...I don't think yours is one of these at all. This is the 'true' Dragon Tree of the ancient legend and has stiffened slightly spine tipped leaves that don't droop.

Also, D. Marginata has very narrow green and red variegaed leaves...this is mine, although it's not a variegated type.
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I 'think' yours is some sort of Yucca, although I agree that Yuccas, Draceanas and also Cordylines, to throw another name into the debate, are all very confusing!
Gill.

What's really frightening is that despite their strong similarities in appearance, the three genera are all now (from DNA tests) known not to be closely related and are placed in different families:
Cordyline - Laxmanniaceae
Draceana - Ruscaceae
Yucca - Agavaceae

And no, I'm not too sure how to tell them apart, either. Probably a lot easier if you get any flowers on them. But it shows just how effective convergent evolution can be!

Resin

Ok then JC, so we dont know EXACTLY what you are growing so here's a suggestion...try googling an addy for the best garden centre in the Luton area or a Botanical Garden somewhere and email them a pic to see what they come up with! I have used a similar technique in the past for identifying plants I have grown from seeds from abroad by sending to their botanical garden or some such site and it has worked...have a go, you have nothing to loose. BUT.... let us know what the outcome is for future reference!
Gill.