By Bill Ward
Published in The Boerne Star in May 2005
Operation NICE! (Natives Instead of Common Exotics!) selection for June is nolina or sacahuista, the “bunch grass” that isn’t a grass. Nolina texana commonly is called beargrass, bunch-grass, or basket grass, but it is a member of the agave family, making it a cousin of yucca, sotol, and century plant.
This species of nolina grows as a two-foot-high mound of numerous long, very slender leaves. It is a commonly cultivated evergreen landscape plant that is suitable for both shady and sunny settings. One of my neighbors uses it effectively as a handsome erosion-control plant in his very steep front yard. Once established it is highly drought tolerant and deer resistant.
Nolina texana is frequently seen in this part of the Hill Country draping over rocky slopes in full sun and hanging from limestone ledges along shaded stream canyons. The almost-rounded leaves are only about a tenth of an inch wide and up to four feet long. In the spring, stalks of pinkish cream-colored blooms stay low, hidden within the thick mound of leaves. Reportedly, the tiny flowers are poisonous to livestock.
Jill Nokes says that Native Americans used the long leaves of this and other species of nolina for weaving baskets and mats.
Nolina texana grows wild in Central, Southwest, and Trans-Pecos Texas, as well as New Mexico and northern Mexico. The other nolina found in our area is restricted only to south Central Texas and the southern Edwards Plateau. This is Nolina lindheimeriana, also known as ribbon-grass, devil’s shoestring, or Lindheimer’s nolina.
It is easier to tell that Lindheimer’s nolina belongs to the agave family. It is more yucca-like with numerous narrow, flat leaves, not so abundant and thin as those of Nolina texana. Leaves of Nolina lindheimeriana are about a quarter inch wide and less than three feet long. Also Lindheimer’s nolina sends up taller bloom stalks, more like other members of the agave family. One plant in our backyard has five stalks, each about four feet long and all just on the verge of flowering. As I remember them from last year, the flowers will be numerous tiny white blooms over much of the length of the stalk.
This nolina does well in well-drained soil in part shade or full sun. It can be used in landscapes where small yuccas would be appropriate. Once established it requires very little watering. It is cold tolerant and stays green all year.
The Boerne Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Texas provides free planting and care instructions for nolinas at Boerne nurseries participating in Operation NICE!: Hill Country African Violets and Nursery, Barkley’s Nursery Center, and Maldonado Landscape and Nursery. Other nurseries participating in NICE!, through the cooperation of the Blanco County Master Gardeners, are Blanco Gardens in Blanco, The Old Lumber Yard in Johnson City, and The Planter Box in Marble Falls.
The four nolina plants in our yard prove that both of the locally native nolinas grow just fine in poor and unfertilized soil without much extra watering. They are perfectly NICE! plants.
