Grass Description
Dry open slopes; scrublands; woodland and forest openings. Moist woodlands and rocky slopes.
General Description
Erect, loosely tufted, 2 to 4 feet tall, rhizomes absent.
Sheaths retrorsely (directed downward or backward) pilose (bearing long, soft, straight hairs); lemmas usually evenly pubescent (short, soft hairs) on the back. Seedhead with stiff, erect or ascending branches; awns usually less than 1/4 inch long.
Flower Characteristics
Seedhead erect and rather narrow to 8 inches long. Spikelets 1 to 2 inches long, 4 to 9 flowered, strongly laterally compressed. Glumes are unequal.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blades 1/8 to 5/16 inches wide, 3 to 10 inches long, can be without hairs, with sparse long soft straight hairs, or covered with short soft hairs, on 1 or both surfaces. Sheaths are closed for most of their length.
Important forage grass for domestic livestock, elk and deer.