W208 



BEARGRASS 



* 



Xerophyl'lum te'nax 



Flowers many, small, perfect, white 

 or cream-colored, slender-stalked, in 

 a dense, showy, pyramid-shaped end 

 cluster (raceme) elongating (up to 2 

 ft.) in fruit 



Stamens 6, pollen-producing, 

 all alike 



Flower parts (sepals and petals) 6, 

 similar, distinct, petal-like, several- 

 veinedj withering-persistent 



Threadlike stalks (styles) 3, distinct, 

 bent abruptly backward 



Seed pod (capsule) broadly egg- 

 shaped, 3-lobed, 3-celled, usually split- 

 ting along the middle of the back of 

 each cell 



Stems tall, stiff, erect, up to about 

 6 ft. high, leafy 



Leaves mostly basal, numerous, nar- 

 row, grasslike, stiff, rough-edged, up to 

 3 ft. long 



Rootstock stout, woody, somewhat 

 tuberlike, underground, perennial 



Roots thickened-fibrous 



