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 Herbarium specimen Arizona State University Vascular Plant Herbarium, Usage Rights: Non-Commercial (CC BY-NC) |  Spikelets Max Licher @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | | | | |
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Origin: Native Season: Warm
Habitat Description: Steep rocky canyon slopes, oak woodlands, forest openings.
Plant Communities:Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Montane Conifer Forest
Elevation: 2000 - 7500 feet
Desc:
Tufted or shortly rhizomatous perennial grass, 12 to 30 inches tall. Smooth waxy stems often reclining on the ground with the tips ascending but not rooting or branching at the lower nodes, reddish to sometimes purplish in color.
Identification Notes: Perennial, up to 3 feet; blades 7 inches long, flat or folded; ligule 1/16 inch membrane; seedhead a spike of paired spikelets, subtended by a leaf; first spikelet sessile, 2-flowered with a 1 inch once bent awn; second spikelet stemmed, male, awnless.
Grass Type: Perennial bunchgrass Rhizomes: Y Stolons: N
Large Dense Clump (> 2 feet): N Bushy (highly branched): N
Height with Seedheads: 24 to 36 inches
Seedhead Structure: Unbranched Seedhead Droops: N
Flowering Period: Aug - Oct
Number of Flowers per Spikelet: Multi-flowered Spikelets One-sided: N
Awns: 1/4 inch to 1 inch Three Awns: N Awns Bent: Y
Flower and Seedhead Notes: Seedhead is a single stalk projecting from the uppermost leaf sheath. Spikelets are in pairs of one sessile (no stalk) and fertile and one pediceled (stalked) and sterile. Spikelets are equal in length.
Blade Hairy:
N
Blade with White Margins:
N
Blade Cross section:
Flat or involute
Blade Notes:
Blades are 2-1/2 to 6-1/2 inches long and threadlike. Blades are flat or folded inward(involute). Leaf blades are smooth and covered with a waxy blue-green or gray coating.
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:
An excellent forage grass.
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