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 Seedhead Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | | | | | |
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Origin: Native Season: Warm
Habitat Description: Grows on rocky slopes, canyons, and rocky outcrops derived from volcanic or limestone parent materials.
Plant Communities:Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Montane Conifer Forest
Elevation: 4000 - 8500 feet
Similar Species: M. emersleyi, M. lindheimeri
Desc:
Tufted perennial with stout erect stems 2 to 4 feet high. Stem internodes are mostly smooth, sometimes minutely roughened below the nodes, sheaths rounded at the base.
Identification Notes: Tufted perennial, seedheads narrow, flowered from the base, lemma awnless or with short tip. Distinguished from M. emersleyi by the rounded base of the sheath, smooth lemmas, and seedhead branches flowered from the base.
Grass Type: Perennial bunchgrass Rhizomes: N Stolons: N
Large Dense Clump (> 2 feet): N Bushy (highly branched): N
Height with Seedheads: Greater than 36 inches
Seedhead Structure: Branched - contracted Seedhead Droops: N
Flowering Period: Jul - Oct
Number of Flowers per Spikelet: One-flowered Spikelets One-sided: N
Awns: Absent Three Awns: N Awns Bent: N
Flower and Seedhead Notes: Dense seedheads are up to 24 inches long, contracted to open, greenish-tan to purplish; with erect stiff primary branches that are spikelet-bearing to the base. Branches have 30 to 60 spikelets, each with 1 fertile floret. Spikelets rarely have awns.
Blade Hairy:
Y
Blade with White Margins:
N
Blade Cross section:
Flat or involute
Blade Notes:
Blades are 6 to 24 inches long, 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide, flat or inrolled at the margins, rough on the bottom and smooth on the top.
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 to good.
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