Grass Description
Dry slopes of the desert ranges to subalpine sites.
General Description
Erect grass not forming dense clumps, often covered in a powdery or waxy bloom. Blades at distinct angles from stem. Seedhead when mature looks like a bottle brush or squirrel tail.
Tufted perennial, 3 to 25 inches; seedheads are spikes, erect to flexuous, clusters of (usually) 2 spikelets per node and stacked up the central stem; very long awns that curve outward when dry, making the seedhead look like a bottlebrush.
Flower Characteristics
Spikes 1-1/4 to 8 inches long, 2 to 6 inches wide, bristly with long spreading awns, densely flowered, often partially included in the upper leaf sheath. Spikelets of 2 to 5 florets of which one or more may be fertile.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blades 2 to 8 inches long, 1/16 to 1/4 inch wide, stiff and rolled inward; tapering to a fine point; prominent veins.
Considered one of the most fire resistant of all native bunchgrasses and provides good forage before the bristly spikes mature and after they have fallen off.