Mesa sacahuista

Dasylirion erumpens Torrey in W. H. Emory, Rep. U.S. Mex. Bound. 2(1): 216. 1859; Beaucarnea erumpens (Torrey) Baker

Plants acaulescent, occasionally arborescent, cespitose; rosettes from vertical, subterranean, branched caudices. Stems 0–2.5 m. Leaf blades stiff, somewhat carinate, concavo-convex, 80–170 cm × 9–18 mm, not glaucous; margins serrulate, with close-set cartilaginous teeth; apex lacerate. Scape 1.5–3 dm, to 1.2 cm diam. Inflorescences paniculate, 4–9 dm × 7–18 cm, contained within rosettes, not surpassing leaves; bracts caducous; bractlets to 2 mm, margins hyaline. Flowers: tepals 1.6–2.2 mm; fruiting pedicel ascending, proximal to joint 1–1.5 mm, distal to joint 1.5–2.5 mm. Capsules thin-walled, inflated, 2.6–4.4 × 3.5–5.7 mm, indistinctly notched at apex. Seeds closely invested in capsules, rounded, bursting ovary walls, 1.5–2.5 × 1–1.5 mm.

Flowering late spring. Rocky hillsides of limestone or igneous slopes in shrub-grasslands; 900--2300 m; Tex.; n Mexico.

The leaves of Nolina erumpens have teeth that are at right angles to the margin. Compared with N. texana in common range, N. erumpens flowers much later in the spring.