|
|
 Plant - fall Rimrock Verde ValleyJohn Kava |  Seedhead Rimrock Verde ValleyJohn Kava |  Seedheads Rimrock Verde ValleyJohn Kava | | | |
|
| | |
Origin: Native Season: Warm
Habitat Description: Grows among boulders on rocky slopes and on cliffs, and in dry arroyos, desert flats, and grasslands, frequently in the protection of shrubs.
Plant Communities:Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland
Elevation: 2000 - 6000 feet
Desc:
Distinctly bushy in appearance. A large, weak stemmed, many branched, wiry perennial bunchgrass. Bush muhly originally existed in extensive stands on the open range lands of Arizona but now occurs for the most part in the protection of shrubs.
Identification Notes: Tufted, wiry and freely branching perennial grass without rhizomes, bent at the base spreading widely; seedheads open or loose; branches naked at the base; glumes without hairs.
Grass Type: Perennial bunchgrass Rhizomes: N Stolons: N
Large Dense Clump (> 2 feet): N Bushy (highly branched): Y
Height with Seedheads: 24 to 36 inches
Seedhead Structure: Branched - open and spreading Seedhead Droops: N
Flowering Period: Jul - Sep
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: Fine, many-branched, loosely drooping, purplish. During good years the very numerous seedheads give the entire plant a messy appearance.
Blade Hairy:
N
Blade with White Margins:
N
Blade Cross section:
Flat or folded
Blade Notes:
Blades 1 to 3 inches long, to 1/16 inch wide, usually rough.
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:
Highly palatable and well liked by livestock despite the wiry seedhead stems.
|
|
