Hairy grama

Description

Bouteloua hirsuta, commonly known as hairy grama, is a perennial short prairie grass that is native throughout much of North America, including the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies region, as well as Mexico and Guatemala. B. hirsuta is a warm-season grass growing 10–20 in (0.2-0.5 m tall, and grows well on mountainous plateaus, rocky slopes, and sandy plains. The leaf blade is flat or slightly rolled, narrow, mostly basal, with hairy margins. The leaf sheath is rounded, smooth, and shorter than internodes. The seedhead is one to four spikes, purplish before maturity, about 1 in (2.5 cm) long; the rachis extends beyond spikelets. It is used primarily for grazing. Hairy grama prefers rocky slopes, as well as dry yet sandy areas between 4,000–6,500 ft (1,200–2,000 m). Bouteloua is a genus of plants in the grass family. Members of the genus are commonly known as grama grass. Bouteloua includes both annual and perennial grasses, which frequently form stolons. Species have an inflorescence of 1 to 80 racemes or spikes positioned alternately on the culm (stem). The rachis (stem) of the spike is flattened. The spikelets are positioned along one side of the spike. Each spikelet contains one fertile floret, and usually one sterile floret. Bouteloua is found only the Americas, with most diversity centered in the southwestern United States. The genus was named for Claudio and Esteban Boutelou, 19th-century Spanish botanists. David Griffiths produced a 1912 monograph on the genus.