Grass Description
Grows in well-drained sandy soils and dry disturbed areas.
General Description
Single stemmed or loosely tufted annual, with smooth stems 4 to 30 inches tall. Basal stems may lie on the ground with the tips ascending, and bending sharply at the lower nodes.
Annual; blades tightly rolled; ligules ragged, somewhat hairy; spikelets solitary, arranged in rows on one side of the seedhead axis; lower glumes less than 1/2 the length of upper; lemma distinctly hairy, awned; lemmas 5-veined, margins sometimes hairy.
Flower Characteristics
Seedhead is about 9 inches long with 1 to 3 branches per node; branches are spreading or appressed to erect. Lower branches are often enclosed in upper sheaths. Spikelets have 3 to 7 bisexual florets. Seedhead turns silver in summer and droops.
Vegetative Characteristics
Leaf blades are up to 4 inches long and less than 1/10 inch wide. Leaf blades are flat or margins may be rolled inward. Leaf blades are smooth on the bottom and rough or hairy on the top and light green in color.
This grass has little forage value because it is short lived and declines when it is closely grazed.