Species of plant native to Mexico
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Nolina beldingii is a species of perennial flowering plant in the family Asparagaceae known commonly as the Cape nolina or Belding's beargrass. It is an arborescent monocot growing up to high, with fissured bark on a trunk topped with leaf rosettes. The narrow leaves are up to long, and are used as thatching by local peoples. This species is endemic to Baja California Sur in Mexico, where it grows only in the highest reaches of the Sierra de la Laguna. It is found primarily in oak forests at elevations over along rocky granite outcrops.
Description.
This is an arborescent species of "Nolina" that grows in height with a trunk in diameter. The bark is fissured, forming rectangular blocks long with the ridges deep. The bark is colored gray but turns maroon with age. Topping the apex of the trunk(s) are 1 to 26 rosettes of leaves, each rosette in diameter. The rosettes retain persistent old leaves along the trunks. The leaves themselves are long and narrow, linear in shape, long, and wide at the middle. The leaves are colored dark green and are smooth, sometimes becoming reddish towards the back. The tip of the leaf is smooth on the sides, but the margins on the rest of the leaf are dentate with small teeth, long.
The inflorescence is paniculate, long and in diameter. The scape is tall, smooth, with linear-shaped bracts. The branches on the inflorescence are lax, loose, open, curved to undulate, and long, with branches towards the tip of the inflorescence long. The staminate flowers are shaped campanulate, in diameter on pedicels long. The pistillate flowers are also shaped campanulate, on pedicels , colored light yellow to cream with a reddish midvein. The fruits are wide.
Taxonomy.
This species was first discovered to Western science by Lyman Belding, a naturalist who made several ornithological expeditions to the Sierra de la Laguna. Townshend Stith Brandegee made the species description in 1890 as "Nolina beldingi", naming it after Belding, who gave Brandegee the directions to find the plant. Brandegee noted that a local species of wasp frequently nested in the plant, which almost ended his attempts to gather fruit on a precarious cliff-side specimen. He also compared the similarity of this species to the "Dracaena" planted ornamentally in San Francisco. Brandegee did not mention any type specimen in his description, meaning that a specimen collected in 1893 serves as the lectotype.
Distribution and habitat.
This species is endemic to the Sierra de la Laguna, a mountain range in the Cape region of Baja California Sur, Mexico. It grows on granitic outcrops at elevations from to , often in the highest reaches of the mountains. It is predominantly found on the steep slopes and cliffs of the local oak and pine forests, growing in association with "Quercus tuberculata", "Q. devia", "Q. arizonica" and "Arbutus peninsularis". It is also found growing with the rare "Dudleya rigida". Brandegee described this species as "the most striking part of the vegetation" amongst the oaks and pines.
Uses.
This leaves from this species are reportedly used as thatching by the local peoples. Members of the genus "Nolina" are also utilized by indigenous peoples to make mats, basketry, and hats. In parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Sonora and Chihuahua, the leaves of "Nolina" species are used to make brooms.
References.
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