Bear Grass / Indian Basket Grass / Soap Grass / Squaw Grass / tenax. Ira Spring Trail, I90, Washington, USA.

Bear Grass / Xerophyllum tenax (Indian Basket Grass, Soap Grass, or Squaw Grass; in the corn lily family, Melanthiaceae). The flowers of bear grass grow on a stalk that can be 6 feet tall with many small creamy white flowers. Bear grass tends to flower in 5 to 7 year cycles. After the fruit sets, the plant dies. It reproduces by seed, and by sending out offshoots from its rhizomes. Bear grass is found in open forests and meadows at sub alpine and low alpine elevations in the western United States. Native Americans in Oregon, Washington state, and British Columbia have traditionally made beautiful baskets with the stems and roots of beargrass. Photo is from Ira Spring Trail, I90, Washington, USA.

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Filename: 0706IRA-040-bear-grass.jpg
Copyright: © Tom Dempsey / Photoseek.com
Image Size: 3192x4500 / 2.2MB; http://www.photoseek.com/; plants flowers
Contained in galleries: Cascades I90 to US2: flowers fungi plants

Bear Grass / Xerophyllum tenax (Indian Basket Grass, Soap Grass, or Squaw Grass; in the corn lily family, Melanthiaceae). The flowers of bear grass grow on a stalk that can be 6 feet tall with many small creamy white flowers. Bear grass tends to flower in 5 to 7 year cycles. After the fruit sets, the plant dies. It reproduces by seed, and by sending out offshoots from its rhizomes. Bear grass is found in open forests and meadows at sub alpine and low alpine elevations in the western United States. Native Americans in Oregon, Washington state, and British Columbia have traditionally made beautiful baskets with the stems and roots of beargrass. Photo is from Ira Spring Trail, I90, Washington, USA.