Origin: Native   Season: Warm Habitat Description: Sandy or rocky hills, plateaus, and forest openings at higher elevations. Plant Communities:Interior Chaparral, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Montane Conifer Forest Elevation: 5000 - 6500 feet
Similar Species: Aristida longisetaGeneral Description
Desc:
Tufted perennial growing erect, branched at base. Identification Notes: Blades crowded toward the base. Seedhead stems slender, upper branches ascending or appressed; seedhead few-flowered; awn 3/4 to 2 inches long; basal portion short, not twisted. Has narrower lemma apices and thinner, shorter awns than A. longiseta. Grass Type: Perennial bunchgrass Rhizomes: N Stolons: N Large Dense Clump (> 2 feet): N Bushy (highly branched): N Height with Seedheads: 12 to 24 inches Seedhead Structure: Branched - open and spreading Seedhead Droops: N Flowering Period: May - Sep Flower Characteristics
Number of Flowers per Spikelet: Multi-flowered Spikelets One-sided: N Awns: Greater than 1 inch Three Awns: Y Awns Bent: N Flower and Seedhead Notes: Seedheads usually 1 to 6 inches long, nodding, narrow and loose, usually a multi-branched seedhead (panicle). Spikelets pressed closed to main axis.
Vegetative Charcteristics
Blade Hairy:
N
Blade with White Margins:
N
Blade Cross section:
Involute
Blade Notes:
Leaf blades mostly basal and curly 1/16 to 1/8 inch wide and 1-1/2 to 4 inches long.
Sheath Hairy:
N
Tuft of Hairs at top of Sheath or Collar:
N
Ligules:
Membranous Auricles (Ear-like lobes at collar area:
N
Forage Value:
Poor. One of the poorest forages of our common range grasses. Palatability is low, particularly after the plants are mature.
Arizona Cooperative Extension
Yavapai County
840 Rodeo Dr #C
Prescott, AZ 86305
(928) 445-6590