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The
male flowers.
Photo by Eric
Winegar.
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This member of the Nolinaceae family was first described by Sir
William Hooker as Dasylirion
hartwegianum (by mistake). Then by Lemaire in 1859, as Dasylirion hookeri. In 1911
William Trelease moved it to the Calibanus genesis. Its found in Hidalgo, San Luis
Potosí,
Mexico, where it grows in grit and enjoys quite some water in the
short growing-period and lots of sun. The caudex can grow to one meter
in diameter, but the grass-like leaves will only get half a meter long. The
clusters of flowers are pink, and it can not be reproduced by cuttings of
the caudex (or leafs). I found my first small one in Llandilo, Australia in
2002.
It is dioecious, I don't know what I got.
The name Calibanus is after Shakespeare's monster Caliban.
Maybe it was re-named by G.D. Rowley in 1990, as Nolina hookeri. Despite
of its differences in seeds.
Uni. of Connecticut list
Calibanus hookeri as Agavaceae.
The International Plant Names Index list Nolina hookeri as Dracaenaceae.
Missouri Botanical Garden list Nolina hookeri as Liliaceae.
Steven
Jankalski list Calibanus hookeri as Nolinaceae.
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