Bush rnulily, a perennial, also known as bush grass, has a variety 

 of other local names. It is frequently called black grama in grazing 

 literature, although it is neither a grama nor a close relative of the 

 grarna grasses. The names bush muhly and bush grass allude to 

 its characteristic habit of growing under the protection, of shrubs. 

 It is sometimes called mesquite grass because of its occurrence under 

 mesquite. Still another name is hoe grass, arising from the fact that 

 when it was plentiful early pioneers hoed it for horse feed. 



Bush muhly occurs from Colorado to California and Texas and 

 south into Mexico. It is a desert plant, inhabiting the dry mesas 

 and foothills under mesquite (Prosopis spp.), catclaw (Acacia gveg- 

 ffii}, Wright buckwheatbrush (Erwyonuin wrightii), cactus, and 

 other shrubs. Although, at least nowadays, characteristically a 

 "brush grass" because of heavy grazing, it occasionally grows in the 

 open, especially on ungrazed areas. In Arizona and New Mexico 

 it occurs in the lower plains and foothills below 5,000 feet, but in 

 Colorado it is occasionally found as high as 6,500 feet. 



This grass is highly palatable to all classes of livestock. It re- 

 mains green most of the year (yearlong, if sufficient moisture is 

 available) which makes it especially palatable in the winter and 

 before the summer rains start when other grasses are dry. Studies 

 on the Santa Rita experimental range, southern Arizona, indicate 

 that, on conservatively grazed ranges, bush muhly is utilized chiefly 

 between December 1 and July 1 ; on heavily grazed range, however, 

 it is eagerly sought yearlong. Cattle will force their way into the 

 brush to graze it. It is now found only in scattered stands and 

 almost entirely under partial protection of shrubs, but according to 

 early pioneers it was formerly one of the most abundant and impor- 

 tant grasses of southern Arizona and New Mexico. 1 Prof. Thornber 

 states : 



The early settlers stoutly maintain that in the pioneer days of stock ranch- 

 ing in southern Arizona black grama (i. e., Muhlenbergia porteri) and crowfoot 

 grama were the all important mesa grasses ; and that the former species grew 

 in such abundance among shrubs and mesquite, and to some extent in the 

 open, that with a few minutes work one could gather enough to feed a team 

 of horses overnight. They also state that it disappeared rapidly as the country 

 filled up with stock. 



It is increasing slowly on some conservatively used ranges but is 

 easily killed out by heavy grazing and lacks the necessary vigor and 

 aggressiveness to cope successfully with present-day range condi- 

 tions and requirements. 



Bush muhly is a perennial, with many weak, much branched, leafy 

 stems. When ungrazed it sometimes forms 'a tangled, leafy mass 

 1 to 3 feet high and iy 2 to 3 feet in diameter, with the lower parts 

 of the slender stems resting on the ground. The stems are partly 

 perennial and do not die down entirely during the winter, and new 

 spring growth starts from near the base of the previous year's stems. 

 It is, therefore, a grass undershrub. The stems are often bent at 

 the joints, knotty at the base, and support a fine, many-branched, 

 usually loosely drooping, purplish panicle 2 to 4 inches long. 



r. ari J ' J " THE GRAZING RANGES OF ARIZONA. Ariz. AgT. Expt. Sta. Bull. 65 : 



[245]-360, illus. 1910. 



