Bear-grass is one of the largest of the wildflowers in this region and when they are in full bloom they create quite a scene, covering clearings in the forest at elevations between about 5,000 feet to 6,000 feet.
After seeing the Bear Grass starting to bloom a few days ago in the Coeur d’Alene Mountains I checked a favorite place about forty miles north of there on Mount Baldy in the Cabinet Mountains and found them blooming in profusion between 4,000 feet and 4,300 feet (their bloom will continue into higher elevations up to about 6,000 feet). Here’s what that looks like:
Bear Grass has just begun blooming and I encountered a small area where there were quite a few of them in full bloom. As usual, they are quite photogenic! These are growing in the Coeur d’Alene Mountains, the site of yesterday’s hike, at an altitude of about 4,500 feet.
Bear-Grass is the only evergreen member of the lily family. Its flowering stems grow from off-shoot plants growing at the base of each “grassy” clump and appear at each plant every five to ten years. The flowers are large (approximately 3” X 4”), blooming at the tops of stalks that are around four and a half feet tall. The genus name comes from the Greek word xeros meaning “dry,” and phyllon meaning “leaf” and the species name tenax means “holding fast”, referring to the tough pliable leaves which were used by the indigenous people to make ornamental baskets. The plant is poisonous although some think that bears eat the fleshy leaf bases in the spring. I’ve never seen bears eat it, but I have seen grassy bases that have been severely disturbed in the spring. The plant is native to six of the far western states in the U.S. and the two western provinces of Canada and in this area usually likes elevations over about 5,000 feet.
You can find a wealth of information on them here .
