Index / Search / Xerophyllum tenax
§1 Plant
Xerophyllum tenax (Pursh) Nutt.
vernacular common beargrass — species · Liliaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Forb/herb
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Monocot
- Family
- Liliaceae Juss.
- Genus
- Xerophyllum
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 1 county across 1 state§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- Medium
- Shade
- Medium
- Moisture use
- Low
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Low
- Hedging
- High
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- 7 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 120 min.
- Precipitation
- 19–69 in/yr
- pH range
- 5.5–7.2
- Root depth
- 6 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Rhizomatous
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Short
- Mature height
- 5 ft
- Foliage texture
- Fine
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Porous
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- White
- Fruit colour
- Black
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Seed abundance
- Low
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- Yes
- Seeds / lb
- 217,333
- Propagation
- seed
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Field Collections Only
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- Low
- Graze palatability
- Low
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 1 county across 1 state.
Montana view state ↗ 1 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/XETE ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/5295841 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-25
fetched 2026-05-25T18:27:19Z