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