Common Name: Bigelow's nolina

Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Native

Lifeform: Tree

General: Shrubs consisting of partially underground trunks with rosette-like leaf clusters; trunks 1-2 m long, often partially underground, erect, clothed with persistent leaf bases, unbranched or with several branches.

Leaves: Rosettes consisting of 34--160 leaves, these 15--45 mm wide, more or less glaucous, the margins minutely serrate proximally, fibrous-shredding with age.

Flowers: Dense compact panicle on a scape 50-80 cm long; perianth 6-parted, in 2 series, the segments petal-like, more or less white, oblong-linear, 3 mm long, the outer series strongly reflexed in female flowers, the inner series erect or ascending.

Fruits: Thin-walled capsule with 1-3 seeds, these 3 mm long, gray-white.

Ecology: Found on rocky slopes and ridges, from 1,000 to 5,000 ft (305--1524 m); flowers May--June.

Distribution: se CA, s NV, w AZ; south to nw MEX (Baja California, Sonora)

Notes: Nolina bigelovii is common in the low deserts along the AZ-CA border. It is distinguished from other Nolina spp. by the shreddy, fibrous margins on the older leaves, the inflated capsules usually 10-12 mm wide, and the presence of a trunk.

Ethnobotany: Used for food and basket-making.

Etymology: Nolina is named for Abbe Pierre Charles Nolin (b. 1717) a French arboriculturalist; bigelovii honors John M. Bigelow (1804-1878), botanist and US Army surgeon.

Synonyms: Dasylirion bigelovii

Editor: AHazelton 2015