Sacahuista
Nolina microcarpa
A grassy-looking evergreen forming a fountain of long, wiry, flexible leaves topped by a plume of tiny cream flowers. A soft, fine-textured anchor for dry, rocky desert gardens. Beargrasses are sometimes lumped with agave and sotol as a roasted starch, but Nolina is a different genus with its own reputation for poisoning grazing stock — not one to treat as food.
- Family
- Asparagaceae
- Type
- shrub
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 4–4 ft
- Spacing
- 3–5 ft apart
- Light
- part shade
- Soil moisture
- dry
- Soil pH
- neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- March, April, May, June, July, August, September
- Bloom colors
- white
- Wildlife value
- pollinators, songbirds
- Landscape uses
- foundation
- Native states
- AZ, NM, UT
Related native plants
More Nolina species
- Parry's Beargrass (Nolina parryi)
- Texas Sacahuista (Nolina texana)
- Foothill Beargrass (Nolina erumpens)