Full Answer
What does Beargrass look like?
Beargrass can grow up to five feet in height with long and wiry, grass-like basal leaves at the base of the stalk and a cluster of small, dense white flowers at the top. While bears do not eat the plant, they will use leaves as denning material.
What is the scientific name of Bear Grass?
Bear grass. The western species, X. tenax, also is known as elk grass, squaw grass, and fire lily. It is a smooth, light-green mountain perennial with a stout, unbranched stem, from 0.6 to 2 metres (2 to 6 feet) high, which rises from a woody, tuber-like rootstock and cordlike roots. The stem bears a dense basal tuft of narrow, grasslike,...
Do bears eat Beargrass?
Beargrass can grow up to five feet in height with long and wiry, grass-like basal leaves at the base of the stalk and a cluster of small, dense white flowers at the top. While bears do not eat the plant, they will use leaves as denning material. Sheep, deer, elk, and goats are known to eat beargrass.
How to grow Beargrass in your garden?
The plant is protected in some of its native range, so if you want to start growing beargrass in gardens, it is best to use seed or transplant an offset from a garden buddy’s plant. Beargrass has slender grass-like stems that may get 3 feet (1 m.) long. It is an evergreen perennial that is found in open woods, sunny clearings in dry or wet soil.
How do you identify bear grass?
The flowers of bear grass grow on a stalk that can be 6 feet tall with many small flowers. Each flower is creamy white, and saucer shaped, and has a sweet aroma. The lowest flowers bloom first, creating a tight knot of buds at the top. The entire flower looks a little like fluffy, upside down ice cream cone.
Is Bear grass poisonous to humans?
Common beargrass rhizomes may be toxic to people [58].
Why do they call it Bear grass?
The plant was first called beargrass by members of the Lewis and Clark expedition, 19th century explorers of western America. At that time "Bear grass" was a common name for yucca (commonly called soapweed today), which bears a superficial resemblance to beargrass.
Where does bear grass grow?
The plant is native to Montana, but can also be found in subalpine meadows and coastal mountains throughout the Pacific Northwest, extending from British Columbia to northern California and eastward to Alberta and northwestern Wyoming.
Is Bear Grass toxic to dogs?
Bear Grass can be mildly toxic to dogs with symptoms of vomiting and gastrointestinal upset.
How do you eat bear grass?
Today, foragers either roast or boil the roots. Though not considered the primary use for Beargrass, as the roots can have a bitter taste. Boiling the roots with the top inch above the water or roasting thoroughly seems to dissipate much of that bitterness. The seed pods, before they open, are also good once cooked.
How do you harvest Bear Grass?
The correct way to harvest is to grasp the leaves to be harvested and give them a quick twist....Personality:Thin, grass-like leaves, up to 3 feet long.Plant is a herbaceous perennial from a woody rootstock.Classed as a monocotyledon, leaves mostly parallel veined.No fragrance.
How do you plant Bear Grass?
Sowing: Direct sow in late fall, planting the bear grass seed just below the surface of the soil. For spring planting, mix the seeds with moist sand and store in the refrigerator for 14-16 weeks before planting. Keep the soil lightly moist until germination.
How often does bear grass bloom in Montana?
once every seven yearsThe flowering cycle for beargrass is once every seven years, and in a good season, they create magnificent seas of white. In the late spring of 1806, during their expedition west, Lewis and Clark discovered and named the plant.
Can you cut back Bear grass?
It takes full sun to part shade and likes well-draining soil. Bear grass is drought-resistant, but prefers supplemental irrigation during hot, dry summers. It grows at a moderate rate with minimal maintenance needs. When needed, prune the dried foliage and dig out old clumps to rejuvenate older plants.
Can you trim Bear grass?
The flowering stalk can be cut off anytime, but its best to wait until the seeds ripen and fall or are eaten by animals. Bear Grass provides a great accent with groundcover.
Is Bear grass a perennial?
Beargrass has slender grass-like stems that may get 3 feet (1 m.) long. It is an evergreen perennial that is found in open woods, sunny clearings in dry or wet soil. It is primarily in cool, subalpine zones.
Is Bear Grass flower edible?
A passage from Sonoran Desert Food Plants: The immature flower stalk is a fair edible. Early in the season, clip the stalk at its base when 1'–2' tall and still flexible. Peel the outer skin from the stalk and eat the center material as is, or if bitter, chop, boil, and rinse it with fresh water.
What is Bear Leaf?
Bay leaf (also known as laurel) is a spice commonly used to flavor soups and meat dishes due to its light, herbal flavor. It is sometimes sold in stores in a powder or as a fresh leaf, but it is most commonly found as a dry, whole leaf.
How do you grow bear grass?
Sowing: Direct sow in late fall, planting the bear grass seed just below the surface of the soil. For spring planting, mix the seeds with moist sand and store in the refrigerator for 14-16 weeks before planting. Keep the soil lightly moist until germination.
What is Bear flower?
Most flowering plants bear perfect flowers: blossoms containing both male and female reproductive parts. In the minority are plants with separate female and male flowers, borne either on the same plant–as in corn, walnut, and squash–or on separate ones, as in asparagus, holly (Ilex), and willow (Salix).
What is bear grass?
The plant was first called beargrass by members of the Lewis and Clark expedition. At that time "Bear grass" was a common name for yucca (commonly called soapweed today), which has a superficial resemblance to beargrass.
How tall does beargrass grow?
Beargrass can grow up to five feet in height with long and wiry, grass-like basal leaves at the base of the stalk and a cluster of small, dense white flowers at the top. While bears do not eat the plant, they will use leaves as denning material. Sheep, deer, elk, and goats are known to eat beargrass.
How often does beargrass bloom?
A common myth states that beargrass only blooms every seven years. In reality, the plant flowers whenever conditions are appropriate. A single plant may have numerous basal rosettes on a common root system. Each rosette will bloom only once. Factors for abundant plant blooming include ideal amounts of spring rainfall and moisture present in the soil. For this reason, back-to-back blooming is rare. Blooming can begin in late May in lower elevations and continue into August in the high country.
What is beargrass in Lewis and Clark?
National Park Service. Several times throughout the Lewis and Clark journals, the writers refer to a plant they named beargrass. This common wildflower (Xerophyllum tenax) is actually not a grass, but a member of the family.
How tall is an evergreen accent plant?
The evergreen accent plant is a great choice for desert and transitional gardens, forming a bold, grassy clump to about five feet tall and seven feet wide. The ends of its leathery, coarse, green leaves will fray to form a white, curling, ornamental look. Its leaves grow from underground stems.
Does bear grass need sun?
It takes full sun to part shade and likes well-draining soil. Bear grass is drought-resistant, but prefers supplemental irrigation during hot, dry summers. It grows at a moderate rate with minimal maintenance needs. When needed, prune the dried foliage and dig out old clumps to rejuvenate older plants.
How tall is bear grass?
Beargrass has slender grass-like stems that may get 3 feet (1 m.) long. It is an evergreen perennial that is found in open woods, sunny clearings in dry or wet soil. It is primarily in cool, subalpine zones. The flowers occur on a thick, fleshy stem that can get up to 6 feet (2 m.) in height.
What is beargrass?
A nature hike around western North America in late spring to early summer, you may see fields of slender, arching foliage with huge, fluffy, white flower heads. The plant is beargrass ( Xerophyllum tenax ), and the name stems from the fact that young bears seem to like to eat the tender stems.
Why is beargrass a pioneer?
Prune off any damaged leaves. Beargrass in the wild is often a pioneer species that appears and then goes away when taller plants start colonizing. It is also one of the first plants to appear after a fire. The plant is having a hard time surviving in the wild due to habitat loss and logging.
How long does it take for beargrass to grow?
Growing common beargrass from seed is very straightforward but plants won’t produce flowers for a couple of years. Propagation by rhizome is quicker and results in flowers the first year.
Where is beargrass native to?
Printer Friendly Version. Image by kellyvandellen. The common beargrass plant is a wild native in the Pacific Northwest up into British Columbia and southwest to Alberta. Beargrass in gardens has a striking perennial presence with its large, fluffy flower heads and arching foliage.
What does a lilac flower smell like?
The flowers are a thick cluster of scented, white, tiny blooms. Depending upon which cultivar, the scent is reminiscent of lilacs or musty old socks. The fruits are 3-lobed dry capsules. As the plant matures, it develops offsets that can be harvested for propagation.
How tall are bear grass flowers?
Flowers open from the bottom up, so that the inflorescence, which ranges in height from two to five feet, takes on many different shapes as it matures. Flower fragrance varies; one study reported that one-fifth of bear grass flowers in their sample had a sweet smell like cultivated lilacs, while the others smelled “musty-acrid.” The one now blooming in my yard is, thankfully, the former, although not as sweet as lilacs.
What is bear grass?
Bear grass, a common name for Xerophyllum tenax, comes from observations that bears like to eat the young fleshy stems, and Grizzly bears reportedly have been known to use bear grass leaves in winter dens during hibernation. It’s a popular plant for many other species who use it for food or cover: from bees and beetles to rodents and elk.
Where does bear grass come from?
The botanical name comes from the Greek xero (dry) and phyllon (leaf), and the Latin tenax (tough or tenacious). It’s an evergreen member of the corn lily family (Melanthiaceae), a group of flowering perennial herbs native to the northern hemisphere. I’ve included bear grass in my book even though it’s not terribly easy to grow.
What are the threats to bear grass?
Today bear grass is having a very tough time surviving with our myriad modern threats: Logging and other habitat loss, introduced forest pathogens and insects that affect associated species, fire suppression, and the floral industry that recklessly collects it for lucrative commerce (much of it is exported).
Where is the black bear bed?
This is a black bear bed located at the base of a redwood tree. Notice that the bark has been shredded and removed from the lower portion of the tree. The area of ground to the right of the tree shows some open soil, where it was scraped down by the bear.
What tree do bears shred?
Bears will shred the bark like this to mark trees in their range. This is a bear bed that was located in a mixed forest composed of Douglas fir, tanoak, and redwood trees. This bed was located at the base of a large Douglas fir tree.
What is inside the bear den?
This view shows the inside of the den whose entrance can be seen in the photo above. The material inside is shredded redwood bark. The bear used its claws to shred bark from the surrounding trees, then pulled it inside to make a mattress to lay on.
Why do bears leave piles of scats?
The large piles of scats were left by the bear as it regularly defecated in the same place each day. This is a common thing for bears to do near their beds. This bear bed was in use during early spring, when the only food available to the bears was grass and other plant material.
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What is the color of a bear's scat?
3. COLOR: Scat color can range from black to brown when the bear is eating a mixed diet and green when eating mostly grasses.
How to tell if a bear is a scat?
Know the Bear's Habitat. One of the easiest ways to distinguish your bear scat is by simply knowing what part of the country you are in. There are only a few regions that contain both black and grizzly. BLACK BEAR: The most common bear is the black bear, which is found in 40 US states.
What is in a grizzly scat?
CONTENTS: Grizzly scat contains berries, vegetation, roots/tubers, cutworm moth parts and remains from moose, elk, mountain goats, and sheep. Coastal brown bears will have fish parts in their scat. 3.
Where are grizzly bears found?
GRIZZLY BEAR: The brown bear, which includes the grizzly and Kodiak bear, is located in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Alaska. In the US, brown bears are coastal bears, while grizzlies are found inland. Kodiaks are the biggest of the brown bears and found only in Alaska.
Do bears leave marks on trees?
Their tracks are larger than most other animals and easy to spot in soft mud or a dusty dry trail. On trees, you may also see bite marks, fur from rubbing and claw marks from bears climbing to get nuts, fruits or other edibles.
What do black bears eat?from northwoodsguides.com
Black Bears are omnivorous, their diet consists of animals, nuts, berries, grasses, insects and aquatic life. Evidence of these will show in their scat. Often times bear scat may contain partially undigested parts of only one food source. Their droppings are one of the largest being 1 to 2 inches in diameter.
What color is a weasel scat?from northwoodsguides.com
Weasel scat is brown to black in color and will show evidence of bones & hair. Small rodents are the majority of their diet. Scat is twisted, thin and tapered at the ends, 1/8 inch in diameter and 1 to 1 1/2 inches long. Back to Top.
What do squirrel droppings look like?from wildliferemoval.com
Squirrel droppings are cylindrical in shape with rounded edges. Because of their diet, they are brown or red in color and vary in length from eight millimeters to three-eighths of an inch in length. Squirrels defecate at random, but you may find droppings clustered near a feeding site like a bird feeder. In appearance, squirrel droppings look very similar to rat droppings, though they may be slightly bulkier and lighten more with age.
Why are coyotes droppings darker in color?from wildliferemoval.com
In winter, coyote droppings tend to be darker in color with more fur and bone fragments mixed in due to the animals they’ve eaten. Because of the fur content, the droppings can have a twisted or rope-like appearance. In summer, droppings tend to be lighter in color due to the animal eating more vegetable matter.
What does bat dropping look like?from wildliferemoval.com
Bat feces, also known as guano , look like dark-colored grains of rice. They are found in large clusters or piles as they accumulate below the roosting site.
What is the shape of squirrel poop?from wildliferemoval.com
Squirrel Poop. Squirrel droppings are cylindrical in shape with rounded edges. Because of their diet, they are brown or red in color and vary in length from eight millimeters to three-eighths of an inch in length.
How big is a cat's scat?from northwoodsguides.com
Scat is up to 4 inches long and 3/4 of an inch in diameter, segmented with blunt ends. Evidence of scratched leaf litter and soil with scat in the scratched out area will indicate cat droppings. Scat may or may not be covered over with leaves or soil. Back to Top.
