font settings and languages

Font Size: Large | Normal | Small
Font Face: Verdana | Geneva | Georgia
Languages:

Nolina microcarpa

(Small-Seeded Beargrass)

Common Names

[ Back to top ]

Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Basket Grass, Bear-Grass, Beargrass, Sacahuista, Sacahuista Bear-Grass, Sawgrass, Small-Seeded Beargrass

Common Names in Spanish:

Palmilla Sacahuista, Sacahuista

Description

[ Back to top ]

Genus Nolina

Plants perennial , cespitose or arborescent , acaulescent to short-caulescent, scapose , from branched, woody caudices or bulblike structures; usually forming colonies with few to many rosettes. Stems to 25 dm. Leaves forming rosettes; blade linear , not rigid or fibrous , bases broadly expanding, margins serrulate or entire. Scape 0.5-25 dm. Inflorescences paniculate , rarely racemose, 3-18 dm; bracts caducous or occasionally persistent . Flowers 2-5 per node, functionally unisexual , pistillate flowers with staminodes, staminate flowers with reduced pistils; tepals white to cream or tan, 1.3-5 mm, apex glandular ; ovary superior; pedicel jointed near middle . Fruits capsular , 3-locular, 3-lobed, thin-walled or sometimes firm-walled, often inflated , mostly notched at base and apex or rounded distally; dehiscent , often splitting irregularly. Seeds closely or loosely invested in capsules, globose , turgid . x = 19.

Species ca. 30: North America (se and sw United States), n and nc Mexico.

In areas of west Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, the species of Nolina are not always well defined. There is variation in the presence or absence of marginal teeth on the leaves and placement of the inflorescences within or beyond the leaves. Collectors should take good notes about the plant habit and morphology and include these with their collections . Further study is needed on Nolina throughout its range . Some species of Nolina are extremely infrequent. Some are on federal and/or state rare and endangered species lists , and possibly some of those listed with a state should be listed federally.

J. C. Dice (1988) studied section Arborescens of Nolina in the United States, and presented extensive descriptions and discussion of N. bigelovii, N. parryi, N. cismontana, and N. interrata.[1]

Physical Description

Species Nolina microcarpa

Plants acaulescent , cespitose; rosettes from vertical , subterranean , branched caudices. Leaf blades wiry, lax , concavo-convex , 80-130 cm ´ 5-12 mm, not glaucous; margins serrulate , with close-set, cartilaginous teeth; apex lacerate ; inflorescence leaf blades curling distally, 10-50 cm. Scape 3-15 dm, 1.2-2.5 cm diam. Inflorescences paniculate , 4-12 dm × 10-30 cm, surpassing leaves; bracts caducous , rarely persistent ; bractlets 2-5 mm, slightly erose. Flowers: tepals white, 1.5-3.3 mm; fertile stamens: filaments 1.6-1.9 mm, anthers 1.2-1.4 mm; infertile stamens: filaments 0.9-1.2 mm, anthers 0.3-0.5 mm; fruiting pedicel erect , proximal to joint 1-2 mm, distal to joint 3-6 mm. Capsules hyaline , thin-walled, inflated , 4.2-6 × 5.4-6.4 mm, indistinctly notched at apex. Seeds loosely invested in capsules, compressed , 2.2-3.4 × 1.5-3 mm. 2n = 38. [source]

D. S. Correll and M. C. Johnston (1970) included Nolina microcarpa in their flora of Texas; however, they reported that they had seen no specimen from that state, nor have I. This species is found primarily from western New Mexico through central Arizona. It forms large clumps up to 2 m in diameter and inflorescences that generally are exserted from the basal leaf rosettes. Considerable variation occurs, some of it geographically restricted to southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico. Most such plants from the latter areas have been referred to N. texana or N. caudata, but are here included in N. microcarpa. In the Grand Canyon area, there are variants that have been referred to N. parryi because in width the leaves approach those of N. parryi and they are serrulate. These plants, however, are acaulescent and also are here included in N. microcarpa. B . J. Albee et al. (1988) reported N. microcarpa on rocky slopes in canyons in Washington County, Utah, but the more recent online version of that work excludes it from Utah. [source]

Habit: Subshrub , Shrub • Growth Form: Single Crown • Shape and Orientation: Decumbent

Flowers: Bloom Period: April. • Flower Color: White • Flower Conspicuous: Yes

Seeds: Seed Spread Rate: Slow • Seedling Vigor: Low • Fruit/Seed Abundance: Medium • Fruit/Seed Color: Brown • Fruit/Seed Conspicuous: Yes • Cold Stratification Required: No

Foliage: Foliage Color: Gray-Green • Foliage Porosity Summer: Moderate • Foliage Porosity Winter: Moderate • Foliage Texture: Coarse • Fall Conspicuous: No • Leaf Retention: No

Size/Age/Growth

Active Growth Period: Spring and Summer • Growth Rate: Moderate • After Harvest Regrowth Rate: Slow • Mature Height (feet): 4.0 • Size: 36-48" tall. • Vegetative Spread Rate: None • Lifespan: Lifespan

Habitat

Rocky hillsides, desert grasslands, oak and pinyon pine-juniper woodlands; 900--1900 m [2].

Biology

[ Back to top ]

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial • Coppice Potential: No • Progagated by Bulbs: No • Propagated by Bare Root: No • Propagated by Container: Yes • Propagated by Corms: No • Propagated by Cuttings: No • Propagated by Seed: No • Propagated by Sod: No • Propagated by Sprigs: No • Propagated by Tubers: No • Fruit/Seed Period Begin: Spring • Fruit/Seed Period End: Summer • Fruit/Seed Persistence: No

Growth

Culture: Space 36-48" apart.

Soil: Adapted to Medium Textured: Adapted to Medium Textured Soils • Adapted to Coarse Textured Soils: Yes • Anaerobic Tolerance: None • Salinity Tolerance: Low • CaCO3 Tolerance: High • Minimum pH: 6.5 • Maximum pH: 9.5 • Fertility Requirement: Low

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Full Sun . • Shade Tolerance: Intolerant

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High • Minimum Precipitation: 7 • Maximum Precipitation: 14 • Moisture Use: Low

Temperature: Minimum Temperature (F): 14 • Minimum Frost Free Days: 280 • Cold Hardiness: 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a. (map)

Taxonomy

[ Back to top ]

Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Nolina caudata Trelease

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication : Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 14:247. 1879

Name verified on 09-May-1996 by ARS Systematic Botanists. Last updated: 09-May-1996

Similar Species

[ Back to top ]

Members of the genus Nolina

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 57 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

N. affinis · N. altamiranoana · N. arenicola (Transpecos Beargrass) · N. atopocarpa (Florida Bear-Grass) · N. beldingi · N. beldingii · N. beldingi var. deserticola · N. bigelovii (Bigelow's Bear-Grass) · N. bigelovii parryi · N. bigelovii var. bigelovii (Bigelow's Nolina) · N. bigelovii wolfii · N. brittoniana (Britton´s Bear-Grass) · N. caudata · N. cespitifera · N. cismontana (California Beargrass) · N. durangensis · N. elegans · N. erumpens (Foothill Bear-Grass) · N. erumpens var. compacta · N. georgiana (Georgia Bear-Grass) · N. gracilis · N. greenei · N. greenii · N. guatemalensis (Curly Nolina) · N. hartwegiana · N. histrix · N. hookeri · N. humilis · N. interrata (Dehesa Beargrass) · N. javanica · N. juncea · N. lindheimerana · N. lindheimeriana (Devil´s-Shoestring) · N. loderi · N. longifolia (Oaxacan Tree Nolina) · N. matapensis (Sonoran Tree Bear Grass) · N. micrantha (Chaparral Bear Grass) · N. microcarpa (Small-Seeded Beargrass) · N. nelsoni · N. nelsonii (Nelsons Bear Grass) · N. palmeri · N. palmeri brandegeei · N. palmeri var. brandegeei · N. paradoxa · N. parryi (Palmilla De Parry) · N. parryi wolfii · N. parviflora · N. pliabilis · N. pumila · N. recurvata (Elephant's Foot Tree) · N. recurvata var. albomarginata 'Yellow Star' (Pony Tail Palm) · N. rigida · N. stricta · N. texana (Devils Shoestring) · N. tuberculata · N. watsonii · N. wolfii

More Info

[ Back to top ]

Further Reading

[ Back to top ]

Notes

[ Back to top ]

Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 01, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. William J. Hess "Nolina". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 413, 414, 415, 416, 419. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Nolina microcarpa". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 416, 418, 419. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/2/2009