Carried by 4 nurseries
View Availability at NurseryData provided by the participants of the Consortium of California Herbaria
View additional distribution information on the Jepson eflora
Xerophyllum tenax is a North American species of plants in the corn lily family. It is known by several common names, including bear grass, soap grass, quip-quip, and basket grass. Xerophyllum tenax has flowers with six tepals and six stamens borne in a terminal raceme. The plant can grow to 15-150 cm in height. It grows in bunches with the leaves wrapped around and extending from a small stem at ground level. The leaves are 30-100 cm long and 2-6 mm wide, dull olive green with toothed edges. The slightly fragrant white flowers emerge from a tall stalk that bolts from the base. When the flowers are in bloom they are tightly packed at the tip of the stalk like an upright club. The plant is found mostly in western North America from British Columbia south to California and east to Wyoming, in subalpine meadows and coastal mountains, and also on low ground in the California coastal fog belt as far south as Monterey County. It is common on the Olympic Peninsula and in the Cascades, northern Sierra Nevada and Rockies.
Perennial herb
6 - 60 in Tall
Upright
Fast
Summer Semi-deciduous
White
Summer
Deer resistant
Full Sun, Partial Shade, Deep Shade
Low, Very Low
Tolerates cold to -15° F
Fast, Medium, Slow
Adaptable, especially after fire.
Tolerates serpentine soil..
Soil PH: 4.0 - 6.5
For propagating by seed: Soak in distilled water 24 hrs. and stratify 4 mos. in vermiculite. Reove germinating seeds at weekly intervals (Smart and Minore 1977)
1, 2, 4*, 5*, 6*, 7, 15, 16, 17
Open, dry rocky slopes
Mixed Evergreen Forest, Yellow Pine Forest