Origin: Native   Season: Cool and Warm Habitat Description: Found along roadsides, drainages, and gravelly slopes in desert grasslands. Plant Communities:Disturbed Areas Elevation: 1000 - 6800 feet
General Description
Desc:
Coarse bunchgrass up to 5 feet tall with erect to spreading stems. Stem nodes are densely hairy. Leaves are mostly basal and clasp the stems. When the plant dries it cures to a reddish-brown color. Identification Notes: Perennial with stout erect stems that are densely hairy at the nodes. Sheaths sparsely hairy at the collar, leaves flat. Seedheads partially enclosed in sheaths. Spikelets in pairs, dorsally compressed. Lemma has a twisted awn up to 1-1/4 inch long. Grass Type: Perennial bunchgrass Rhizomes: N Stolons: N Large Dense Clump (> 2 feet): N Bushy (highly branched): N Height with Seedheads: 24 to 36 inches Seedhead Structure: Branched - fingerlike Seedhead Droops: N Flowering Period: Apr - Oct Flower Characteristics
Number of Flowers per Spikelet: Multi-flowered Spikelets One-sided: N Awns: Greater than 1 inch Three Awns: N Awns Bent: Y Flower and Seedhead Notes: Seedhead stems partially enclosed at the base by sheaths. Spikelets in pairs, the sessile spikelet with 2 florets and the pedicillate spikelet sterile. Upper lemma of sessile spikelet is tipped with a twisted awn 1-1/4 inch long.
Vegetative Charcteristics
Blade Hairy:
N
Blade with White Margins:
Y
Blade Cross section:
Flat
Blade Notes:
Blades 8 to 12 inches long, <1/2 inch wide. Leaf blades are flat and smooth.
Sheath Hairy:
Y
Tuft of Hairs at top of Sheath or Collar:
N
Ligules:
Membranous Auricles (Ear-like lobes at collar area:
N
Forage Value:
Fair. Palatability is highest when foliage is green and young and decreases with drying and age.
Arizona Cooperative Extension
Yavapai County
840 Rodeo Dr #C
Prescott, AZ 86305
(928) 445-6590