Scientific Family
Poaceae
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
No
Grass Description
Origin
Native
Season
Warm
Dry, open slopes or woodlands.
Plant Community
Grasslands
Interior Chaparral
Montane Conifer Forest
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Low elevation
4000
High elevation
7000
Similar species
Aristida barbata
General Description
Forms clumps of unbranched stems. Leaves are mostly basal and roll along the edges. The seed has a twisted tip and three awns.
Tufted perennial grass with open branched seedheads spreading at the base, branchlets appressed; lateral awn branches more than 1/16 inch long, usually nearly as long as the central one; basal portion of awn spirally twisted; collars densely hairy.
Grass type
Perennial bunchgrass
Rhizomes
No
Stolons
No
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
No
Bushy - highly branched
No
Height with Seedheads
12 inches or more
Seedhead Structure
Branched - open and spreading
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
July
Last bloom month
October
Flower Characteristics
Flowers per Spikelet
One-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
No
Awns
1/4 inch to 1 inch
Three Awns
Yes
Awns bent
Yes
Flower and Seedhead Notes
Very open, spreading branches extend at right angles from the central axis. Each spikelet bears three spreading, hairlike awns at its tip; 1/2 to 3/4 inch, not disarticulating (separating) at maturity.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blade is hairy
No
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Flat
Involute – rolled inward on upper surface
Blades 2 to 8 inches long, 1/16 inch wide, flat to loosely involute, smooth.
Sheath is hairy
No
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
Yes
Ligule
Hairy
Auricles
No
Fair to poor.