Grass Description
Found on sandy and rocky slopes and plains and in canyons.
General Description
Tufted, erect, topped with open, spreading and diffuse seedheads. Broadly pyramidal seedheads have small multi-flowered spikelets at the end of branches.
Tufted perennial to 3 feet. Ligule a row of dense hairs. Blades flat or involute. Diffuse, broadly pyramid-shaped, reddish seedheads with long, delicate branches and spikelets that are solitary at the end of long branches. Spikelets have 5 to 11 florets.
Flower Characteristics
Seedhead large, grayish-green to purple, open and pyramidal with slender delicate branches. Branches are spreading. Axils of branches are hairy. Compressed spikelets of 5 to 11 florets on short 1/4 to 1/2 inch long secondary branches.
Vegetative Characteristics
Leaves narrow, 1/16 to 1/8 inch wide and 4 to 10 inches long. Surface is smooth below, rough and hairy on top.
Good. This is an important early spring forage grass for livestock and wildlife.