Grass Description
Dry rocky slopes and rolling desert grasslands.
General Description
Tufted grass with unique purplish tinged seedheads along opposite sides of stem.
Perennial, 1 to 2 feet tall; stems firm, hard at the base; leaf sheaths rounded, not conspicuously flattened; 3 to 10 one-sided hairy spikes per plant; densely hairy seedhead stem; spikelets set closely like the teeth of a comb; 2nd glume is hairy.
Flower Characteristics
Panicle of spike-like branches. Panicle is 3/4 to 2-1/2 inches long, spike-like branches are < 3/4 inch long, 3 to 8 in number, 8 to 12 spikelets per branch. Glumes unequal and 1 nerved, lemmas 3 nerved. Spikelets are hairy.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blades to 4 inches long, 1/16 inch (or less) wide, flat, covered with a powdery or waxy bloom, bases with nipple-like based hairs on the margins, similar hairs sometimes present on either or both surfaces.
Good, highly palatable to all classes of livestock.