Scientific Family
Poaceae
Plant type
Grasses
Riparian
No
Grass Description
Origin
Native
Season
Cool
Rocky slopes and dry sandy washes.
Plant Community
Desert Scrub
Grasslands
Interior Chaparral
Pinyon Juniper Woodlands
Low elevation
1000
High elevation
6000
General Description
Annual with erect stems, growing in dense tufts.
Seedhead is contracted, branches are erect and appressed or only slightly spreading. Flat smooth leaves have median lines and boat-shaped tips. Glumes are smooth. Florets have basal tufts of dense cottony or web-like hairs.
Grass type
Annual
Rhizomes
No
Stolons
No
Clump Diameter 2 ft or more
No
Bushy - highly branched
No
Height with Seedheads
12 inches or more
Seedhead Structure
Branched - contracted
Seedhead droops
No
First bloom month
March
Last bloom month
May
Flower Characteristics
Flowers per Spikelet
Multi-flowered
Spikelets One-Sided
No
Awns
Absent
Three Awns
No
Awns bent
No
Flower and Seedhead Notes
Seedhead is 2 to 6 inches long and is a compact series of hairy spikelets. Spikelets are broadly oval with 3 to 8 florets overlapping and compressed against each other, spreading apart at maturity. Spikelets have a dense cottony tuft at the base.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blade is hairy
No
Blade margins white
No
Blade cross-section
Flat
Blades are flat; 3/4 to 1-1/2 inches wide and 1 to 5 inches long.
Sheath is hairy
No
Tufts of hair top of sheath or collar
No
Ligule
Membranous
Auricles
No
Highly palatable to livestock but usually not a significant source of forage.