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 Plant and blades Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Seedhead Patrick Alexander @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | | | | |
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Origin: Introduced Season: Cool
Habitat Description: Weed of moist disturbed soils below 9,000 ft.
Plant Communities:Riparian, Disturbed Areas
Elevation: Below 9000 feet
Desc:
Grass clumps are loose tufts of erect stems that branch and spread from the base. Plant surfaces may be smooth or hairy.
Identification Notes: Spikelets arranged in a bilateral spike, 3 spikelets per node, central with a fertile floret, lateral spikelets staminate; lemmas of the central florets subequal to those of the lateral florets; lateral lemmas with awns 1/8 to 1/2 inch long.
Grass Type: Annual Rhizomes: N Stolons: N
Large Dense Clump (> 2 feet): N Bushy (highly branched): N
Height with Seedheads: 12 to 24 inches
Seedhead Structure: Unbranched Seedhead Droops: N
Flowering Period: Apr - Jun
Number of Flowers per Spikelet: One-flowered Spikelets One-sided: N
Awns: 1/4 inch to 1 inch Three Awns: N Awns Bent: N
Flower and Seedhead Notes: Seedhead spikes are green, turning purplish just before maturity. Seedhead stems are erect and often partly enclosed in the inflated upper sheath. Spikelets 3 per node, sessile or sub-sessile, central with a fertile floret, lateral spikelets staminate.
Blade Hairy:
Y
Blade with White Margins:
N
Blade Cross section:
Flat
Blade Notes:
Leaves are flat, occasionally with involute margins, without hairs or sometimes sparsely hairy, sometimes rough to the touch, blue-green, or gray, or with white glands.
Sheath Hairy:
Y
Tuft of Hairs at top of Sheath or Collar:
N
Ligules:
Membranous
Auricles (Ear-like lobes at collar area:
Y
Forage Value:
This grass provides palatable early forage for stock and wildlife but also causes serious injury to animals once the seedheads dry and harden.
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