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 Blades Utah State University, Intermountain Herbarium @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Public Domain (CC0 1.0) |  Seedheads Patrick Alexander @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) |  Spikelets Patrick Alexander @http://swbiodiversity.org, Usage Rights: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) | | | |
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Origin: Native Season: Warm
Habitat Description: Dry sandy and gravelly slopes, flats, and roadsides. Associated with desert scrub, pinyon-juniper and pine forests.
Plant Communities:Desert Scrub, Interior Chaparral, Semidesert Grasslands, Pinyon Juniper Woodland, Montane Conifer Forest, Disturbed Areas
Elevation: 2000 - 7000 feet
Similar Species: Sporobolus cryptandrus, S. contractus
Desc:
Perennial bunchgrass, 1 to 3 feet tall, usually grows in rather small clumps. Stems are erect or trailing. It is a perennial grass but it is short-lived and is sometimes an annual.
Identification Notes: Perennial; seedhead branches loosely flowered, branchlets and spikelet stems spreading; sheaths hairy on margins and collar; spikelets less than 1/8 inch long. Seedheads are always wide open and more loosely flowered then S. cryptandrus .
Grass Type: Perennial bunchgrass Rhizomes: N Stolons: N
Large Dense Clump (> 2 feet): N Bushy (highly branched): N
Height with Seedheads: 24 to 36 inches
Seedhead Structure: Branched - open and spreading Seedhead Droops: Y
Flowering Period: Jun - Oct
Number of Flowers per Spikelet: One-flowered Spikelets One-sided: N
Awns: Absent Three Awns: N Awns Bent: N
Flower and Seedhead Notes: Large loosely-flowered, airy, elongate seedheads have slender branches and branchlets which spread and droop. Grayish single-seeded spikelets have unequal glumes and no awns.
Blade Hairy:
Y
Blade with White Margins:
N
Blade Cross section:
Flat or involute
Blade Notes:
Leaf blades are flat or folded, becoming V-shaped toward the long-tapered tips and are less than 1/8 inch wide and up to 8 inches long. The leaf sheaths are densely hairy at the top and often have a fringe of hair along the margins.
Sheath Hairy:
Y
Tuft of Hairs at top of Sheath or Collar:
Y
Ligules:
Hairy
Auricles (Ear-like lobes at collar area:
N
Forage Value:
Browsed by wildlife and cattle during summer months with fair forage value. Mesa dropseed becomes unpalatable and low in nutrition at maturity.
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