Arizona Range Grasses
Their Description, Forage Value, and Grazing Management
Cooperative Extension,College of Agriculture & Life Sciences, The University of Arizona

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WOOLlY BUNCHGRASS
Elyonurus barbiculmis Hack.

Figure 30.—Woolly bunchgrass (Elyonurus barbiculmis) View Larger Image Click Here

Description

Growth habit: A perennial bunchgrass generally about 18 inches to 2 feet tall.
Color: Rather light green, curing to a dark straw yellow
Leaves: Long, narrow and inrolled; usually without hairs but sometimes with a few soft spreading hairs on the upper surface.
Inflorescence: Slender, round, unbranched; spikelets without awns; heads about 2 to 4 inches long, dense and light green or silvery.
Season: Warm Season
Origin: Native

Occurrence

Common locally in the southern part of the state, occurring largely in Cochise, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties. It is generally restricted to rocky hillsides in stands of oak or juniper.

Forage Value

This grass makes fair forage when green but poor when dry.

Grazing Management

Woolly bunchgrass usually grows intermixed with more palatable grama grasses. Grazing pressure that does not harm the grama grasses will likewise not harm the woolly bunchgrass. Close grazing of woolly bunchgrass, on the other hand, generally indicates that the range as a whole has been too heavily grazed.

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Document located http://cals.arizona.edu/pubs/natresources/az1272/
published 2002
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