Dasyochloa

Dasyochloa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Chloridoideae
Tribe: Cynodonteae
Subtribe: Scleropogoninae
Genus: Dasyochloa
Willd. ex Rydb.
Species:
D. pulchella
Binomial name
Dasyochloa pulchella
(Kunth) Willd. ex Rydb.
Synonyms

Erioneuron pulchellum
Tridens pulchellus
Triodia pulchella

Dasyochloa is a monotypic genus containing the single species Dasyochloa pulchella (formerly Erioneuron pulchellum), also known as desert fluff-grass or low woollygrass.[citation needed] It is a densely tufted perennial grass found in the deserts of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico.

Description

It is a perennial bunchgrass forming small tufts just a few centimeters high with clumps of short, sharp-pointed leaves. The tufts are often enveloped in masses of cottony fibers; these are actually hairlike strands of excreted and evaporated mineral salts.

The leaves produce soft, cob-webby hairs that dissolve in water, after summer rains. The hairs are typically not present in spring. Numerous hairless, wiry, stems are 5–13 centimetres (2–5 in) tall.

The hairy inflorescence is a spikelet on the end of the stem, surrounded by a bundle of bractlike leaves, and is 6–12 cm (2+1⁄2–4+1⁄2 in) long. The spikelets are pale in color, sometimes striped with red, purple, or green.[citation needed] It blooms from February to May.

Distribution and habitat

It is native to the Southwestern United States, California, and northern to central Mexico, where it grows in dry regions such as deserts.

References

  1. 1 2 Grass Manual Treatment Archived 2011-06-11 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Pam Mackay, 2nd Ed. 2013, p. 314
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mojave Desert Wildflowers, Pam Mackay, 2nd Ed. 2013, p. 283