Devil's Shoestring
Nolina lindheimeriana
Family: Asparagaceae
This beargrass has a weepy habit much like the Texas Sacahuiste, but can be smaller (2-3’ tall and wide) and with very stout, erect blooms that rise high above the foliage in spring and early summer about 3’ or more.
Full to part sun, low water (supplement water in summer about once or twice a month). Hardy to -20°F.
Taken for rheumatism, for pneumonia and lung hemorrhages; the stalks were eaten; the seeds were made a flour or meal for bread or mush; the fruit was eaten raw or preserved; plant was used as a dye, for basketry, rugs, mats and other forms of weaving, for brushes, rope, and cord; the roots were used for soap; and the dried leaves were used as cooking tools.
Nolina is named for Abbe Pierre Charles Nolin (b. 1717) a French arboriculturalist, while the species "lindheimeriana" comes from Ferdinand Jakob Lindheimer (1801-1879), who is known as the "Father of Texas Botany". Lindheimer was a political refugee who immigrated to the United States in 1834 and spent many years collecting plant specimens in Texas. There are 30 species of Nolina with the principal distribution being in Mexico and extending into the southern United States.
Larval host for the Gray Hairstreak (Strymon melinus), the snout moth Sosipatra rileyella, and yucca moths (Prodoxidae family). Native solitary bees will use the dry stalks as larval nests.
Found on limestone hills of open woodlands, scrubland, and ravines in lightly wooded areas of the eastern half of the Edwards Plateau where it is endemic (native only to a particular area).