Origin: Native   Season: Warm Habitat Description: Found on rocky, open slopes in grassy and open woodland shrub vegetation. Plant Communities:Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Montane Conifer Forest Elevation: 4000 - 8000 feet
General Description
Desc:
Multiple stemmed annual, stems trailing or erect and unbranched. Seedheads of 1 branch of one-sided spikelets. Identification Notes: Annual with trailing or erect unbranched stems. Sheath smooth, ligule membranous or short-hairy. Leaves short, flat to involute. Seedhead usually a single branch of one-sided spikelets, each spikelet having 1 fertile and 1 to 2 sterile 3-awned floret. Grass Type: Annual Rhizomes: N Stolons: N Large Dense Clump (> 2 feet): N Bushy (highly branched): N Height with Seedheads: Less than 12 inches Seedhead Structure: Branched - comblike branches Seedhead Droops: N Flowering Period: Aug - Sep Flower Characteristics
Number of Flowers per Spikelet: Multi-flowered Spikelets One-sided: Y Awns: Less than 1/4 inch Three Awns: Y Awns Bent: N Flower and Seedhead Notes: Seedhead usually has one curved branch of 20 to 30 spikelets. Spikelets are one-sided with 1 bisexual floret and 1 to 2 sterile florets. Fertile lemmas are hairy at bases and 3-awned with stout flattened awns.
Vegetative Charcteristics
Blade Hairy:
Y
Blade with White Margins:
N
Blade Cross section:
Flat or involute
Blade Notes:
Leaves are 3/4 to 3-1/4 inches long and <1/16 inch wide, flat to rolled inward. Top surfaces are mostly smooth, often soft hairy at the bases.
Sheath Hairy:
N
Tuft of Hairs at top of Sheath or Collar:
Y
Ligules:
Membranous and hairy Auricles (Ear-like lobes at collar area:
N
Forage Value:
Good when green and growing. Overall forage value to livestock and wildlife is very low because this is a small, short-lived annual grass.
Arizona Cooperative Extension
Yavapai County
840 Rodeo Dr #C
Prescott, AZ 86305
(928) 445-6590