Grass Description
Dry open plateaus and rocky slopes.
General Description
Coarse erect, few-stemmed bunchgrass. Seedheads of 2 to 15 slender and flexible drooping branches that bear spikelets of 4 to 7 florets.
Large perennial, wiry stems. Sheaths strongly keeled, purplish. Blades flat, folded or loosely revolute. Seedheads flexible, drooping, 2 to 15 branches at 90-degree angles, paired or digitately arrianged branches. Spikelets of 4 to 7 awnless florets.
Flower Characteristics
Seedheads 4 to 8 inches, few to many spreading, ascending or drooping branches 1 to 5 inches long. Branches are triangular in cross-section. Spikelets 4 to 7 florets. Secondary seedheads are often hidden in the lowest leaf sheaths.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blades dull bluish-green, flat or folded, 3 to 14 inches long and about 1/2 inch wide. Blades may be smooth, downy, or covered with stiffly appressed hairs.
Good for livestock, fair for wildlife when green.