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Arizona
Range Grasses Back to the Table of Contents
Growth habit: A fine-leaved annual grass extremely
variable in size. Plants may be 3 to 30 inches tall, size depending
largely on available moisture. The several stems are attached at the
base of the plant and are usually wide spreading.
Occurrence Widespread in the state below 6,000 feet. This grass is
most abundant at elevations of about 4,000 feet, and is not common in
the drier portions of the state where creosote bush or salt-tolerant
shrubs predominate. Sixweeks threeawn makes its best growth on natural
grassland sites that have been disturbed by heavy grazing or cultivation. Forage Value Sixweeks threeawn is one of our better annual grasses,
but provides poorer forage than most perennials. Although it will grow
and set seed at any time of the year when moisture and temperature are
favorable, sixweeks threeawn is most prevalent during the summer and
is commonly classed as a summer annual.
Sixweeks threeawn may produce an abundance of herbage
for a short period of time. Its principal disadvantages are that it
grows for a short period, and that the nutrients leach out quickly.
The plants apparently lose most of their nutritive value soon after
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Cooperative
Extension,College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, The University of
Arizona