Bear
Grass
Xerophyllum
tenax
also
called TURKEY BEARD, one of two species of North American plants comprising
the genus Xerophyllum of the lily family (Liliaceae). The western species,
X. tenax, also is known as elk grass, squaw grass, and fire lily. It is
a smooth, light-green mountain perennial with a stout, unbranched stem,
from 0.6 to 2 metres (2 to 6 feet) high, which rises from a woody, tuber-like
rootstock and cordlike roots. The stem bears a dense basal tuft of narrow,
grasslike, rough-edged leaves, about one metre long; the leaves of the
upper part of the stem are similar but much smaller. Flowering occurs
at five to seven years. The top of the stem develops a large cluster of
many small, creamy white flowers. The turkey beard (X. asphodeloides)
of southern North America is a similar plant that grows in dry pine barrens.
In the southern and southwestern United States the name bear grass is
given to various kinds of yucca, especially to Yucca filamentosa and Y.
glauca; also to the camas (Camassia scilloides) and the aloelike Dasylirion
texanum, all of which have grasslike leaves. Text © Encyclopedia Britanica Image © Walter Lane from his Lazy Double S brochure |