Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Digital Library

Description

This perennial evergreen consists of a rosette of hundreds of long, narrow leaves armed with small, sharp, marginal teeth. The rosettes are usually stemless and about 6 feet (2 m) across. Old specimens may develop trunks to 6 feet (2 m) tall, and these sometimes branch. Sotols are dioecious (producing only male or only female flowers on each plant). The inflorescence emerges from the center of the rosette in early summer and grows to 12 feet (3.7 m) tall. Its numerous, dense branches bear thousands of tiny, green- or violet- tinged whitish flowers, followed by winged fruits on female plants. Desert spoon does not die after flowering. The stem branches at the base of the inflorescence and continues growing.

Range

Desert spoon grows on rocky hillsides and slopes at 3000 to 6000 foot (900-1800 m) elevation in southeastern Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, northern and eastern Sonora, Mexico, and to west Texas. Despite its English name, it is primarily a grassland species that extends into the desert.

Comments

The rosettes flower only once in several years. Blooming plants attract huge numbers of insects, including flies, bees, wasps, and butterflies.

Until a few decades ago, the Tohono O'odham wove beautiful sleeping mats by plaiting together sotol leaves after removing marginal teeth from the leaves.

At about 5000 species worldwide, the lily family is fairly large, even though several other large groups were split off into their own families in recent years. This more narrowly-defined family still includes our region's ajo lily (desert lily), mariposa, and the true lilies of wetter climates. Former lilies that have been placed in their own families include agaves, yuccas, onions, asparagus, and the aloes.