Scientific Family
Poaceae
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
No
Grass Description
Origin
Native
Season
Warm
Grows on sandy mesas, limestone benches, and in valleys and open desert grasslands. Does well in dry conditions.
Plant Community
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Montane Conifer Forest
Interior Chaparral
Grasslands
Low elevation
4000
High elevation
7000
Similar species
M. torreyi, M. arizonica
General Description
Tufted perennial grass. Erect or reclining with ascending tips (decumbent) are 8 to 24 inches long with rough surfaces and short dense hairs in the vicinity of the nodes.
Erect perennial bunchgrass, basal clumps of thin, inrolled blades 2 to 5 inches long. Seedhead up to 12 inches long, spreading; branchlets and spikelet stems appressed; spikelets about 1/8 inch long, stems similar in length; glumes awn-tipped.
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 - open and spreading
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
July
Last bloom month
October
Flower Characteristics
Flowers per Spikelet
One-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 and 2 to 8 inches wide. Primary branches are spreading but branchlets and pedicels are often somewhat appressed. Elliptical, purplish spikelets have glumes of equal length; one or both awn-tipped.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blade is hairy
No
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Involute – rolled inward on upper surface
Blades are 2 to 5 inches long, less than 1/16 inch wide with rough, waxy coated surfaces. Leaves are usually folded to rolled inward, midveins and margins are green, not thickened.
Sheath is hairy
No
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
No
Ligule
Membranous
Auricles
No
This densely tufted perennial grass grows close to the soil surface and provides very little forage.