Dasylirion wheeleri

Last updated

Dasylirion wheeleri
Dasylirion wheeleri 1.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Order: Asparagales
Family: Asparagaceae
Subfamily: Nolinoideae
Genus: Dasylirion
Species:
D. wheeleri
Binomial name
Dasylirion wheeleri

Dasylirion wheeleri (desert spoon, spoon flower, sotol, or common sotol) is a species of flowering plant in the asparagus family (Asparagaceae), native to arid environments of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States.

Contents

Description

Dasylirion wheeleri is a moderate to slow-growing evergreen shrub with a single unbranched trunk up to 40 centimetres (16 inches) thick growing to 1.5 metres (5 feet) tall, though often recumbent on the ground. The leaf blade is slender, 35–100 cm (14–39 in) long, gray-green, with a toothed margin. The leaves radiate from the center of the plant's apex in all directions (spherical).

Blooming from May to July, the flowering stem grows above the foliage, to a height of 5 m (16 ft) tall [1] and a diameter of 3 cm (1+14 in). The stem is topped by a long plume of straw-colored small flowers about 2.5 cm long with six tepals. The color of the flower helps determine the gender of the plant, being mostly white for males and purple-pink for females. The fruit is an oval dry capsule 5–8 millimetres (1438 in) long, containing a single seed.

Dasylirion leiophyllum is similar, but the toothed leaves curve towards the base. [1]

Etymology

Dasylirion is a compound word from the Greek, literally meaning 'dense' or 'shaggy' + 'lily'. The Latin specific epithet wheeleri refers to the American surveyor and plant collector George Montague Wheeler (1842–1905). [2]

Distribution and habitat

It is native to arid, rocky environments of northern Mexico, in Chihuahua and Sonora and in the southwestern United States, in the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, and also in New Mexico and western Texas. [1]

Uses

Decorative flowers made from leaf bases; Yepachi, Chihuahua Tiodoro.jpg
Decorative flowers made from leaf bases; Yepachi, Chihuahua

D. wheeleri is grown as an ornamental plant, valued in xeriscaping. As it does not tolerate extended frosts, in temperate regions it is usually grown under glass. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit. [3] [4]

The alcoholic drink sotol, the northern cousin to tequila and mezcal, is made from the fermented inner cores of the plant. It is the state drink of the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Durango, and Coahuila.

It was also used by the natives of the region for food and fiber. Its flower stalk can be used as a fire plow. [5]

The Tarahumara and Pima Bajo peoples of the Sierra Madre Occidental of Chihuahua weave baskets from the leaves after they strip off the spines from the leaf margins. They also employ the expanded leaf bases in making large artificial flowers as holiday decorations. [6] [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Eschscholzia californica</i> Species of flowering plant and state flower of California

Eschscholzia californica, the California poppy, golden poppy, California sunlight or cup of gold, is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae, native to the United States and Mexico. It is cultivated as an ornamental plant flowering in summer, with showy cup-shaped flowers in brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow. It is also used as food or a garnish. It became the official state flower of California in 1903.

<i>Hydrangea quercifolia</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae

Hydrangea quercifolia, commonly known as oakleaf hydrangea or oak-leaved hydrangea, is a species of flowering plant in the family Hydrangeaceae. It is native to the southeastern United States, in woodland habitats from North Carolina west to Tennessee, and south to Florida and Louisiana. A deciduous shrub with white showy flower heads, it is grown as a garden plant, with numerous cultivars available commercially.

Sotol

Sotol is a distilled spirit of Mexican origin sourced from the family of Asparagaceae; the genus Dasylirion and several species, most commonly: Dasylirion wheeleri, Dasylirion durangense, Dasylirion cedrosanum, and Dasylirion leiophyllum, less commonly with Dasylirion texanum and Dasylirion lucidum, a plant that grows in the Chihuahua desert of northern Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona, and west and central Texas. Sotol liquor is a Mexican drink that is known as the state spirit of Chihuahua, Durango and Coahuila. Sotol has its own appellation of origin since 2002, and may be produced only in Chihuahua, Coahuila and Durango. There are dozens of commercial examples available. Production of sotol spirits exists outside the Sotol Denomination of Origin in several regions such as Sonora where it is known as Palmilla, Oaxaca (Cucharillo), and the Texas Hill Country.

<i>Maianthemum racemosum</i> Species of flowering plant

Maianthemum racemosum, the treacleberry, feathery false lily of the valley, false Solomon's seal, Solomon's plume or false spikenard, is a species of flowering plant native to North America. It is a common, widespread plant with numerous common names and synonyms, known from every US state except Hawaii, and from every Canadian province and territory, as well as from Mexico.

<i>Agastache</i> Genus of flowering plants

Agastache is a genus of aromatic flowering herbaceous perennial plants in the family Lamiaceae. It contains 22 species, mainly native to North America, one species native to eastern Asia. The common names of the species are a variety of fairly ambiguous and confusing "hyssops" and "mints"; as a whole the genus is known as giant hyssops or hummingbird mints.

<i>Dermatophyllum secundiflorum</i> Species of plant

Dermatophyllum secundiflorum is a species of flowering shrub or small tree in the family Fabaceae, that is native to the southwestern United States and Mexico. Common names include Texas mountain laurel, Texas mescalbean, frijolito, and frijolillo.

<i>Sedum morganianum</i> Species of succulent

Sedum morganianum, the donkey tail or burro's tail, is a species of flowering plant in the family Crassulaceae, native to southern Mexico. It is a succulent perennial producing trailing stems up to 60 cm (24 in) long, with fleshy blue-green leaves and terminal pink to red flowers in summer. S. morganianum has been found wild in two ravines at Tenampa county, in central Veracruz, in eastern Mexico and on vertical cliffs of igneous rock in the Tropical Deciduous Forest zone. Due to its restricted geographic distribution, it should be regarded as a micro-endemic species.

<i>Vinca major</i> Species of vine

Vinca major, with the common names bigleaf periwinkle, large periwinkle, greater periwinkle and blue periwinkle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, native to the western Mediterranean. Growing to 25 cm (10 in) tall and spreading indefinitely, it is an evergreen perennial, frequently used in cultivation as groundcover.

<i>Bistorta affinis</i> Species of plant

Bistorta affinis, the Himalayan bistort, fleece flower, or knotweed, is a species of flowering plant in the family Polygonaceae, native to the Himalayas.

<i>Dasylirion texanum</i> Species of flowering plant

Dasylirion texanum, the Texas sotol and sotol, is a monocot flowering plant native to central and southwestern Texas and in Coahuila state of northeastern Mexico, including the Chihuahuan Desert.

<i>Saxifraga paniculata</i> Species of flowering plant

Saxifraga paniculata is an alpine species of flowering plant in the saxifrage family, with native distribution in the temperate northern hemisphere. Common names include alpine saxifrage, encrusted saxifrage, lifelong saxifrage, lime-encrusted saxifrage, livelong saxifrage, white mountain saxifrage, and silver saxifrage.

<i>Dasylirion acrotrichum</i> Species of flowering plant

Dasylirion acrotrichum, the great desert spoon and green sotol, is a plant native to the Chihuahuan Desert and other xeric habitats in northern and central Mexico.

<i>Darmera</i> Species of flowering plant in the family Saxifragaceae

Darmera peltata, the Indian rhubarb or umbrella plant, is a flowering plant, the only species within the genus Darmera in the family Saxifragaceae. It is a slowly spreading rhizomatous perennial native to mountain streamsides in woodland in the western United States, growing to 2 m tall by 1 m wide. The name Darmera honours Karl Darmer, a 19th-century German horticulturist.

<i>Ipomoea indica</i> Species of flowering plant

Ipomoea indica is a species of flowering plant in the family Convolvulaceae, known by several common names, including blue morning glory, oceanblue morning glory, koali awa, and blue dawn flower. It bears heart-shaped or 3-lobed leaves and purple or blue funnel-shaped flowers 6–8 cm (2–3 in) in diameter, from spring to autumn. The flowers produced by the plant are hermaphroditic. This plant has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

<i>Primula denticulata</i> Species of plant

Primula denticulata, the drumstick primula, is a species of flowering plant in the family Primulaceae, native to moist alpine regions of China, Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Kashmir, N Myanmar, Nepal, and Pakistan. It is an herbaceous perennial growing to 45 cm (18 in) tall and wide, with rosettes of oval leaves and sturdy stems bearing spherical umbels of purple flowers in late spring and early summer. Flowers can also be lavender, pink, or white in colour.

<i>Lewisia cotyledon</i> Species of flowering plant

Lewisia cotyledon is a species of flowering plant in the family Montiaceae known by the common names Siskiyou lewisia and cliff maids. It is native to southern Oregon and northern California, where it grows in rocky subalpine mountain habitat.

<i>Dasylirion leiophyllum</i> Species of flowering plant

Dasylirion leiophyllum is a species of flowering plant in the asparagus family known by the common names green sotol, smooth-leaf sotol, and smooth sotol. It is native to North America, where it occurs in Chihuahua and Coahuila in Mexico and New Mexico and western Texas in the United States. It was first collected by Valery Havard in 1880 and was described by William Trelease in 1911.

<i>Veltheimia capensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Veltheimia capensis is one of two species of flowering plants belonging to the genus Veltheimia, of the family Asparagaceae. It is a tender bulbous perennial reaching a height of 46 cm (18 in), with flowers varying in color from white with red spots to pink with green or red markings.

<i>Dasylirion durangense</i> Species of flowering plant

Dasylirion durangense, common name "sotol," is a perennial plant in the family Asparagaceae, native to Durango, Chihuahua and Sonora, Mexico. It is closely related to D. wheeleri S. Wats. and considered a variety of that species by some authors. The plant has a large basal rosette of long stiff leaves over 1 m in length, bearing sharp, curved spines along the margins. The flowering stalk can be up to 3 m tall, bearing small wind-pollinated flowers.

<i>Lophospermum erubescens</i> Species of flowering plant

Lophospermum erubescens, known as Mexican twist or creeping gloxinia, is a climbing or sprawling herbaceous perennial plant, native to the Sierra Madre Oriental mountains of Mexico, where it is found along forest margins or canyon walls. It climbs by means of twining leaf stalks. Wild plants have pink and white tubular flowers, although other colours are found in cultivation. It has been cultivated as an ornamental plant since at least 1830. Although not frost-hardy, it will survive if its base and roots are protected from freezing in the winter. It has escaped from cultivation and become naturalized in tropical and subtropical areas of the world.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Spellenberg, Richard (2001) [1979]. National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Wildflowers: Western Region (rev ed.). Knopf. p. 326. ISBN   978-0-375-40233-3.
  2. Harrison, Lorraine (2012). RHS Latin for Gardeners. United Kingdom: Mitchell Beazley. ISBN   978-1845337315.
  3. "RHS Plant Selector - Dasylirion wheeleri" . Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  4. "AGM Plants - Ornamental" (PDF). Royal Horticultural Society. July 2017. p. 29. Retrieved 6 February 2018.
  5. Elpel, Thomas J. Fire Plow Sets for Primitive Fire Making
  6. Laferrière, Joseph E., & Willard Van Asdall. 1991. Plant use in Mountain Pima holiday decorations. Kiva 57:27-38.
  7. Pennington, CW. 1963. The Tarahumar of Mexico, their material culture. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City