General: Beargrass (Nolina microcarpa) is a yucca-like plant with long, slender, sword-like but flexible leaves that grow from the ground. Leaves have serrate edges when mature (not shredding). In the spring, plume-like flowerheads are produced on a long stalk that persists long after the flowers are gone.

Beargrass is a minor component of the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub and Pinyon-Juniper Woodland) and Transition (Yellow Pine Forest) life zones. Around Las Vegas, look for this species at the Grand Canyon.

Family: Agave (Agavaceae).

Other Names: Nolina, sacahuista.

Plant Form: Rounded mound of 3-ft-long sword-like leaves emerging from ground level.

Height: Usually less than 5 feet, but flowering stalk to 8 feet.

Trunk: None.

Stems: None.

Leaves: Very long (3 feet) and slender, concave. Leaf edges minutely serrate. Loose fibers along leaf edges absent.

Flowers: Blooms during spring. Inflorescence: a plume at the end of an upright 5-foot-high stalk. Flowers white, tiny. Fruit develops into early summer.

Seeds:

Habitat: Generally found in rocky areas, hillsides, desert grasslands, oak and pinyon-juniper woodlands.

Elevation: About 3,000 to 7,000 feet.

Distribution: Northwestern Arizona east into New Mexico.

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