Sacahuista (Nolina texana) is a native perennial plant of the lily family that is found throughout the western regions of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico. It commonly grows in rocky foothills from 3000 to 7000 feet in elevation.

It is also known as “beargrass” because it forms a large clump of fibrous, narrow leaves from a woody base at ground level that can reach the height of 5 feet, giving it a bear-like appearance.

Sacahuista flower parts are avidly consumed by grazing livestock. Cattle will also eat the leaves but are usually not poisoned by the plant.

Goats and sheep are most susceptible to the poison. Goats are more susceptible than sheep. The minimum toxic dose will often be a lethal dose for goats.

Sacahuista is generally not utilized by most wildlife species. Most animals showing signs will usually die. One percent of body weight of flower parts consumed will cause severe liver damage.

Poisoning can be avoided by practicing good grazing management and rotating sheep and goats out of pastures in the spring where Sacahuista is known to exist and be in bloom. Grazing cattle in those areas during the spring and rotating sheep and goats in those areas after bloom occurs will help reduce problems.

Sacahuista can be controlled by using certain herbicides or grubbing individual plants.

Editor’s note: Kent Ferguson, retired rangeland management specialist from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is providing us with plant identification photo stories to help ranchers identify those forbs, forages and species growing in the pastures. Additional photos provided by USDA NRCS.

Sacahuista is excerpted from the August 2017 issue of The Cattleman magazine.