Scientific Family
Poaceae
Other common names
sawtooth lovegrass
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
No
Grass Description
Origin
Introduced
Season
Warm
Rocky slopes, in sandy flats and along roadsides.
Plant Community
Disturbed Areas
Low elevation
1575
High elevation
5400
General Description
A moderately leafy bunchgrass growing erect from a moderately vigorous and sparsely branched base to a height of about 3 feet.
Tufted perennial; spikelets large, flattened egg-shaped and many flowered, opposite at broad angles; lower stem nodes sprout into offsets or new shoots; sheaths hairy at the apices and on the margins.
Grass type
Perennial bunchgrass
Rhizomes
No
Stolons
No
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
No
Bushy - highly branched
No
Height with Seedheads
24 inches or more
Seedhead Structure
Branched - contracted
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
June
Last bloom month
September
Flower Characteristics
Flowers per Spikelet
Multi-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
No
Awns
Less than 1/4 inch
Three Awns
No
Awns bent
No
Flower and Seedhead Notes
Seedhead is 4 to 12 inches long. Spikelets are 1/4 to 3/4 inch long, 1/8 to 1/2 inch wide and borne on short pedicels. Spikelets have 4 to 22 florets each.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blade is hairy
Yes
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Flat
Involute – rolled inward on upper surface
Blades are 3 to 12 inches long and flat to loosely involute; smooth on the bottom and covered with short stiff hairs on the top and sides.
Sheath is hairy
Yes
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
Yes
Ligule
Hairy
Auricles
No
Fair.