SQUAW-GRASS. SOUR-GRASS. TURKEY-BEARD.
Xerophyllum tenax, Nutt. Lily Family.
Radical leaves.—Very numerous; two or three feet long; about two lines broad; gracefully flexile; serrulate. Scape.—Two to five feet high; with scattered leaves; bearing at top a dense raceme a foot or two long. Perianth segments.—Six; spreading rotately; four or five lines long; white. Stamens.—Six. Ovary.—Three-celled. Styles three; filiform. Hab.—Coast Ranges to British Columbia; also in the Northern Sierras.
Often upon high ridges we notice the large clumps of certain plants with long, slender, grasslike leaves, which ray out in every direction like a fountain, and resemble a small pampas-grass before it flowers. We naturally wonder what the plants are, but it may be many years before our curiosity is satisfied. Suddenly some spring we find them sending up tall blossom-shafts, crowned with great airy plumes of pure-white flowers, fully worthy of our long and patient waiting. After putting forth this supreme effort of a lifetime, and maturing its seed, the plant dies.
In the north, where it is sometimes very abundant, and occupies extensive meadows, it is known as "sour-grass." The name "squaw-grass" is also applied there, because the leaves, which are long, wiry, and tough, are used by the Indians in the weaving of some of their finest baskets. Baskets made from them are particularly pliable and durable.