Grass Description
Usually grows in disturbed sites such as roadsides, fields, and along railroad tracks. It prefers areas with rainfall of 10 to 20 inches. Common weed in fields where wheat is grown.
General Description
Resembles winter wheat. Stems are hollow, 15 to 30 inches tall and may be upright, slightly laying down, or abruptly bent near the base. Seedlings emerge with favorable soil moisture mostly in late fall. Seedheads form in spring.
Annual. Cylindrical spikes; spikelets sessile and partly sunken into the flower stem. The flower spike may fall in its entire but eventually breaks apart into individual spikelets.
Flower Characteristics
The seed head, 1 to 5 inches long and 1/8 inch wide, is a narrow cylinder composed of 2 to 12 spikelets each containing 3 to 5 flowers (florets). Upper floret awns 1-1/2 to 3 inches, lower forest awns less than 1/4 inch.
Vegetative Characteristics
Stems branch at the base; the stems that branch off the main stems are called tillers. The first leaf to emerge on seedling jointed goatgrass is reddish to brownish-green. Blades are 1 to 6 inches long and less than 1/4 inch wide.
Livestock prefer to graze other grasses first but will eat under heavy grazing conditions.