Beargrass

Description:

Although this plant looks very grasslike, it is not actually a grass. The small, white flowers are in plumelike, greenish, upright to leaning inflorescences that are taller than the leaves. The flowers are followed by papery, inflated, translucent, greenish-yellow seed capsules. The leaves have dry, curled, string-like tips and are green, wiry, flexible, arching, concavo-convex (concave above and convex below), edged with very tiny teeth, narrowly linear in shape, and in a dense rosette that emerges from a short, branched, woody underground stem. The plants are clumping.

Habitat:

Dry canyon hillside in Santa Catalina Mts. Hoodoo Vista Point.

Notes:

Native Americans used the leaves for woven mats, cordage, thatch, and basketry. The roots were used for medicinal purposes. The fruit, seeds, and flower stalks were eaten. The white, sweet, inner part of the boiled or roasted flower stalks is edible, but this plant is protected.