Bouteloua hirsuta Lag.
Hairy Grama

Habit:		Densely tufted perennial.
Culms:		10-50 cm. tall, glabrous, tufted, erect, leafy at the base.
Blades:		Numerous and basal longer, 2-12 cm. long, 2 mm. wide, or less, flat, slender pointed, flexuous, rough,
		sparingly papillose-hispid on the margin, hirsute on the upper surface near the base.
Sheaths:	Upper shorter than the internodes, glabrous, or the lower pubescent, sometimes slightly pilose at the throat.
Ligule:		A very short ring of hairs.
Inflorescence:	Panicles racemose with 1-4 spikes, 1-5 cm. long, the rachis conspicuously prolonged beyond the
		spikelets for about 5-8 mm.
Spikelets:	Numerous (35-45), pectinate, including awns 5-6 mm. long, 1 perfect flower, crowded in two rows and
		forming few to many one-sided, more or less curved, sessile spikes.
Glumes:		Persistent, first narrow, acuminate, 2-3 mm. long, minutely-hispid, the second 4-5 mm. long, acuminate,
		short-awned, minutely hispid and conspicuously tuberculate-hirsute on the back with spreading hairs,
		the tubercles black.
Lemmas:		Fertile lemma, including awn 5-6 mm. long, 3-cleft to near the middle, 3-nerved, the nerves excurrent,
		the divisions and margins pubescent, no tuft of hairs at the base, lemma of the upper 1-3 imperfect
		flowers borne at the end of a rachilla, 3-awned.
Palea:		Oval, about the length of the lemma.
Rudiment:	From puberulent to bearded at summit of rachilla, cleft nearly to the base, the lobes firm, broad,
		spreading, the awns black.
Habitat:		Plains and rocky hills.  June-August.
Kansas Range: 	West five sixths.
Use:		A major constituent of the plains grazing lands, particularly on shallow, limy sites.
Synonyms:	Bouteloua hirsuta Lag. var. hirsuta
		Bouteloua glandulosa (Cerv.) Swallen
		Bouteloua hirsuta Lag. var. glandulosa (Cerv.) Gould