General: Bigelow's Nolina (Nolina bigelovii) is a yucca-like plant with long, slender, sword-like but flexible leaves that have smooth, shredded edges when mature. The plant grows from a stalk that is often short, but up to about 8 feet high. In the spring, large, plume-like flowerheads are produced on a long stalk that persists long after the flowers are gone.

Bigelow's Nolina is a minor component of the Upper Sonoran (Mojave Desert Scrub) life zone. Around Las Vegas, look for this species in the Christmas Tree Pass area and near Grapevine Canyon in Lake Mead National Recreation Area.

Family: Agave (Agavaceae).

Other Names: Nolina, beargrass.

Plant Form: Rounded mound of 3-ft-long sword-like leaves emerging from ground level or from a short stalk.

Height: Usually less than 5 feet, but flowering stalk to 8 feet.

Trunk: Short and thick.

Stems: None.

Leaves: Very long (3 feet) and slender, flat. Leaf edges smooth (minutely serrate when young), loose fibers along leaf edges when mature.

Flowers: Blooms during spring. Inflorescence: a plume at the end of an upright, 3 to 5-foot-high stalk. Flowers cream or pale yellow, tiny. Fruit develops into early summer.

Seeds: Gray, small.

Habitat: Generally found in rocky areas and on rocky hillsides.

Elevation: To about 5,000 feet.

Distribution: Southern California, Nevada, and Arizona.

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