Wolftail, also known as Texas timothy, is a grayish green, per- 

 ennial bunchgrass which gets its common name from the timothy - 

 like panicle that resembles the tail of a wolf. The generic name 

 Lycwrus is from two Greek words meaning wolftail, and the specific 

 name phleoides refers to the resemblance of this plant to timothy 

 (Phlewm). A member of the redtop tribe (Agrostideae) , it is the 

 only representative of this small genus in the United States. It 

 inhabits western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, and extends 

 southward into Mexico. It is very common in New Mexico and 

 Arizona on mesas and sidehills of the woodland and ponderosa 

 pine zones at elevations from 4,000 to 8,000 feet. It usually occurs 

 in very scattered stands, but occasionally is fairly abundant, grow- 

 ing on dry, rocky, open hillsides, in mixture with other grasses, 

 weeds, and shrubs. This grass grows on a wide variety of soils and 

 exposures but seems to thrive best on sandy or gravelly loams of 

 open grasslands and in dry canyon bottoms. Some of its common 

 associates are the gramas (Bouteloua spp.), junegrass (Koeleria 

 ci^istata) , mountain muhly (MuMenbergia, rrwntana), and oaks 

 (Quercus spp.). Wolftail sometimes extends down into the mesquite 

 (Prosopis spp.) and catclaw (Acacia greggii) zone. 



In general, about 45 to 75 percent of the herbage of wolftail is 

 grazed when the range is properly utilized. It is usually considered 

 a good or very good forage grass. Its main growing season comes 

 with the advent of summer rains. The foliage cures well on the 

 range, and the semiperennial stems green up quickly and produce 

 new growth in the spring when palatability of wolftail is highest. 

 On closely grazed ranges it is likely to be utilized yearlong but, on 

 conservatively grazed range in mixture with other grasses, it is 

 grazed lightly in summer and winter and fairly heavily in the 

 spring when it resumes growth. 



Wolftail can be readily distinguished from timothy by the more 

 conspicuous awns of its spikelets which give the slender lead-colored 

 panicle a hairy appearance. The panicle is also less dense and not 

 so rigid and erect as that of timothy. Wolftail is occasionally con- 

 fused with spike muhly (Muhlenbergia wrightii), but may be dis- 

 tinguished from the latter by its more bristly, wolftail-like panicle. 

 The spikelets of wolftail are borne in pairs and fall together en- 

 tire, leaving the axis of the panicle (rachis) naked. On the other 

 hand, the spikelets of spike muhly are borne singly and the glumes 

 remain attached after the seeds fall. Furthermore, spike muhly may 

 be distinguished by its rootstocks (rhizomes), which are lacking iii 

 wolftail. Wolftail usually flowers in July and August and the 

 seeds are disseminated during late September and through October. 



