font settings and languages

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

Nolina texana

(Devils Shoestring)

Common Names

[ Back to top ]

Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in English:

Bunch Grass, Bunch-Grass, Bunchgrass, Devils Shoestring, Sacahuista, Texas Bear-Grass, Texas Bears Grass, Texas Sacahuista, Texas Sacahuiste

Common Names in Spanish:

Palmilla Fina, Palmilla Texana, 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 texana

Plants acaulescent , cespitose; rosettes from vertical , subterranean branched caudices. Leaf blades wiry, stiff, triangular, slightly concavo-convex toward base , 40-90 cm × 2-4(-7) mm, not glaucous; margins entire, rarely remotely serrate with widely separated, noncartilaginous teeth, tips dying; inflorescence leaf blades curling distally, 10-50 cm. Scape curling distally, 0.5-2 dm. Inflorescences paniculate , rarely purple, 2.5-7 dm × 5-17 cm, held completely or partially within rosettes; main rachis and divisions thick, rigid , lateral branches ascending ; bracts persistent , to 10-40 cm; bractlets laciniate , 1-2 mm. Flowers: tepals yellow-green, 2.5-3.5 mm; fertile stamens: filaments 0.9-1.4 mm, anthers 0.8-1 mm; infertile stamens: filaments 0.6-0.8 mm, anthers 0.4-0.5 mm; fruiting pedicel ascending, thick, articulate near base, noticeably dilated into perianth, proximal to joint 2.5-6 mm, distal to joint 1.5-2 mm. Capsules thin-walled, inflated , 3-4 × 4.5-5.5(-8) mm. Seeds closely invested in capsules, rounded , bursting ovary walls, 2.6-3.4 mm diam. 2n = 38. [source]

Nolina texana var. compacta is not recognized as distinct from var. texana. They have the same distributions. Variety compacta has compact inflorescences with functionally pistillate flowers, which is typical of the functionally pistillate plants of var. texana. Those plants with elongate secondary branches have functionally staminate flowers and are characteristic of both varieties. The dark, round seeds are quite distinct in the open fruit chambers on inflorescences hidden within the basal leaves . Some plants from the high plains of eastern New Mexico, northwestern Oklahoma, and southern Colorado were considered to be N. texana (see 7. N. greenei). Further study of these populations may help determine if they truly are a part of this complex . [source]

Habit: Subshrub , Shrub

Flowers: Bloom Period: January, February. • Flower Color: near white, white

Size/Age/Growth

Size: 18-24" tall.

Habitat

Rocky hillsides, limestone, granite, grasslands, shrublands; 200--2000 m [2].

Biology

[ Back to top ]

Reproduction

Duration: Perennial

Growth

Culture: Space 24-36" apart.

Soil: Minimum pH: 6.6 • Maximum pH: 9.0

Sunlight: Sun Exposure: Sun to Partial Shade.

Moisture: Drought Tolerance: High

Temperature: Cold Hardiness: 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b, 8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b, 11. (map)

Taxonomy

[ Back to top ]

Unambiguous Synonyms

  1. Nolina affinis Trelease
  2. Nolina erumpens (Torrey) S. Watson Var. compacta Trelease
  3. Nolina texana var. compacta (Trelease) I. M. Johnston

Notes

Publishing author : I.M.Johnst. Publication : J. Arnold Arbor . 24: 90 1943 Basionym author: (Trel.) Name Status: Accepted Name . Latest taxonomic scrutiny: 15-Mar-2000

Place of publication: Proc. Amer. Acad. Arts 14:248. 1879

Name verified on 19-Mar-1998 by ARS Systematic Botanists.

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 28, 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 texana". in Flora of North America Vol. 26 Page 420. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/2/2009