Figure 245 



HOW TO KNOW THE GRASSES 



3a. Plants spreading by slender creeping stolons; culms 10 — 30 cm. tall. 

 Fig. 245. 



CURLY MESQUITE GRASS. Hilaria belangeri (Steud.) Nash 



Perennial; forming extensive flat mats, 

 the stolons rooting at the nodes. Dry 

 plains, foothills, and brushy land, 650 — 

 1800 m. elevation; often on heavy clay 

 soils. Blooming occurs sporadically dur- 

 in the growing season. 



Curly mesquite is an important range 

 grass in the Southwest. Because of its 

 stolons, it stands up well under heavy 

 grazing. Where it occurs with buffalo 

 grass, it is regarded as inferior to buf- 

 falo, being less productive and not cur- 

 ing out as well. The plants greatly re- 

 semble those of buffalo grass {Buchloe 

 dactyloides, see Fig. 247), but may be 

 distinguished by the spikelets and by 

 the following features: 1. Color. Curly 

 mesquite is light green when fresh, whitish when dry. Buffalo grass 

 is grayish or olive green when fresh; tan, brownish or purplish when 

 dry. 2. Stolons. The stolons of curly mesquite are round in cross sec- 

 tion, very slender, and have tufts of hair at the joints. Those of buffalo 

 grass are oval in cross section, stouter, and smooth at the joints. 

 3b. Plants erect, without stolons; rhizomes present. Fig. 246. 



GALLETA GRASS Hilaria jamesii (Torr.) Benth. 



Perennial; culms tough, erect, 30 — 50 

 cm. tall, from stout, scaly rhizomes. The 

 racemes of clustered spikelets are whit- 

 ish. After the groups of spikelets fall, 

 the rachis remains behind as a thin, zig- 

 zag straw. Galleta (pronounced gie- 

 yetta) is an important forage grass on 

 dry plains and deserts in the Southwest. 

 It is fairly palatable to horses and cattle 

 when fresh and green, but is scarcely 

 eaten when dry. June — August. 



Hilaria mutica Benth. (TOBOSA 

 GRASS) is very similar, but the first 

 glume on each lateral spikelet is fan- 

 shaped. Heavy clay soils, especially 

 on river bottoms where flooding occurs. 

 Western Texas to Arizona. 

 Hilaria rigida (Thurb.) Benth. (BIG GALLETA) is larger, and has 



the culms covered with a dense white felt of hairs. Southwestern 



deserts. 



Figure 246 



130 



