Grass Description
Dry open sandy or rocky slopes and washes, frequent along roadsides. Found occasionally in desert scrub, desert grasslands, and pinyon-juniper woodlands.
General Description
Tufted very erect perennial grass, stems 3 to 4 feet tall, small clusters to large clumps.
Tufted erect perennial up to 4 feet tall. Collar and ligule are hairy. Blades smooth, flat or involute. Seedhead contracted, dense, remains spikelike at maturity, basal portion enclosed in leaf sheath. Spikelets 1/16 inch long, one flowered, not awned.
Flower Characteristics
Seedhead dense and contracted, spikelike, typically less than 1/2 inch thick, 6 to 22 inches long. Sometimes the entire seedhead remains enclosed in the sheath. Glumes unequal.
Vegetative Characteristics
Blades 4 to 12 inches long, 1/8 to 1/2 inch wide, flat to rolled inward, tapering to a slender tip. Smooth on both surfaces, margins whitish, somewhat rough.
Fair to good.