Nolina longifolia
Here we have a massive plant with tiny flowers -so small my iPhone has trouble focusing sharply on them. The genus Nolina occurs in the southern half of the U.S. and on southward as far as Oaxaca. The plant pictured is one of the southern ones, native to Oaxaca and neighboring Puebla, notable for its long downward-hanging leaves. Some authors, however, have doubted that it is different enough from the more wide-ranging N. parviflora to be classified as a separate species. In any case, there are separate male and female plants, and the daubs of yellow pollen visible on the anthers of our plant's flowers show it to be a male. Plants are slow-growing, but can live for hundreds of years. While formerly placed in the its own family, Nolinaceae, it is now put in a subfamily (Nolinoideae) within the larger Asparagus Family.
-Brian
