Blue Beargrass
Nolina nelsonii

Family: Asparagaceae

Blue nolina has a bolder look than other Nolina species, and is often mistaken for a Yucca species. The 2 to 3 foot long, 1 inch wide leaves range from grey-green and flexible (juvenile foliage) to powder blue and less flexible (mature foliage). The leaves are edged with tiny teeth. It grows at a moderate rate, eventually developing a 10 to 12 foot tall trunk, crowned by a massive head of foliage. Old leaves persist along the trunk, resulting in a naturally shaggy “skirt”. In the summer Blue nolina sends up a 10-foot-tall spike of small chartreuse flowers

Full to part sun, low water (supplement water in summer about once or twice a month). Hardy to 0°F. Some people “clean up” the brown skirts from the trunk but this skirt provides habitat for insects and other wildlife.

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 speies was named for the naturalist Edward W. Nelson (1855-1934) who first collected the plant in 1898 in the mountains of Tamaulipas, Mexico.. There are 30 species of Nolina with the principal distribution being in Mexico and extending into the southern United States.

Photo by Mountain States Wholesale Nursery