Descriptive Flora 



65 



2^' long. Flowers large, bell-like, greenish white, in showy 

 clusters on a long, branched flower-stalk, 1 to 3' tall, that rises 

 out of the crown of sharp-pointed basal leaves. Sepals and petals 

 3 each, about 2" long, alike in size, shape and color. Stamens 6, 

 white, fleshy, % to 1" long, covered with short fine hairs. Fruit 

 a three-lobed, thin-walled pod, containing many flat seeds. 

 Blossoms in April and May. On dry, rocky, limestone hills and 

 hillsides. 



Yucca tenuistyla Trelease. Bear-grass. 



Plant apparently stemless or with one or two very short, 

 woody trunks at the end of which radiate narrow, stiff, sharp- 

 pointed, grass-like leaves, 8 — 18" long, with white margins that 

 shred white, thread-like fibres. Flowers similar to the Twisted- 

 leaved Yucca. Blossoms in April, May and June. Rocky hill- 

 sides. Will do well in low ground. These leaves were shredded 

 by the pioneers and used for hanging bacon and sewing sacks. 

 The fibre of these leaves is finer in texture than ' 1 Sisal hemp" 

 and of equal strength. 



Nolina texana Watson. Slender Bear-grass. Basket Grass. 



Bunch-grass. 



Plants with many stout, branching flower stalks not rising 

 above the long, slender, fibrous leaves. Flowers small, white, 

 scattered singly or in clusters along the main stem or branches of 

 the stalks. Parts of perianth 6. Stamens 6. Leaves grass-like, 

 tough, fibrous, narrow, triangular at base, 2 to 3' long and from 

 Ys to 3/16" wide, crowded on the thick, inconspicuous, short, 

 woody trunk. Fruits small, about 1/6" long, three-winged. 

 Blossoms March, April, May and June. Grows on ledges of lime- 

 stone bluffs, the long, green masses of leaves overhanging the 

 ledge. Leaves used for making basket handles. Plant first 

 collected on the Cibolo Creek by Ferdinand Lindheimer, in 1846. 



