Abundant throughout the Park, particularly in open habitat, in this photo the plants flower prolifically on a slope above the road to Reflection Lakes. Some years the plants may flower very little, if at all.

The flowers open from the bottom upwards--thus the conelike structure of unopened blossoms at the top. This large flowering head is certainly one of the most easily recognized at the Park.

Bear Grass is not a grass at all, but was formerly placed in the Lily Family and is now in the related Melanthiaceae. The grasslike leaves were important to native economies as an excellent material for a variety of products.