With a dense rosette of 3-foot long, arching, narrow, wiry leaves, this trunkless relative of agaves and yuccas resembles a bunchgrass, until it produces a bloom stem packed with white flowers. Note the leaves are channelled, lined with tiny teeth sharp to the touch, and the bloom stem is contained within the rosette of leaves.

FLOWERS: May–July. Elongated cluster on bloom stem (scape), flowers on short stalks; flowers have 6 tepals, each 1/8 inch long (3.3 mm ), white, sometimes with purple midveins. Seed capsules spherical, 1/8 inch (3.8 mm) diameter, thin walled.

LEAVES: Dense rosette of narrow, channeled blades, 18–36 inches long (45–90 cm) by 3/16–5/15 inch wide (5–8 mm wide); edges lined with hard, close set, sharp teeth.

HABITAT: Rocky hillsides, slopes, open woodlands and grasslands; desert grasslands and scrub, juniper-pinyon-oak woodlands.

ELEVATION: 4,500–7,200 feet.

RANGE: Primarily NM; in adjacent counties of CO, OK, TX.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Texas Beargrass, N. texana, in southern NM, once included N. greenei, and has flower stems within the leaves, but the leaves have smooth edges (rarely serrate). Sacahuista Beargrass, N. microcarpa, widespread in NM, has serrated leaves but the flower stem extends above the leaves. Chaparral Beargrass, N. micrantha, in se NM, has leaves with smooth edges and the flower stem partially within the leaves, but the flowers are purple-tinged.

NM COUNTIES: Widespread, common in ne, sw NM, and in the Sandia Mts. in low- to mid elevation, open habitats: Bernalillo, Colfax, Dona Ana, Guadalupe, Harding, Mora, Otero, Quay, Roosevelt, Sandoval, Sierra, Socorro, Taos, San Miguel.