Kingdom Plantae Family Poaceae Scientific name Dasyochloa pulchella Rank Species | Order Poales Subfamily Chloridoideae Higher classification Dasyochloa | |
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Genus Dasyochloa
Willd. ex Rydb. Similar Erioneuron, Munroa, Lycurus, Tridens, Allolepis | ||
Dasyochloa is a monotypic genus containing the single species Dasyochloa pulchella (formerly Erioneuron pulchellum), known as desert fluff-grass or low woollygrass, a densely tufted perennial grass found in the deserts of the southwestern United States.
Contents
Range 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.
Growth pattern
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.
Stems and leaves
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 2–5 inches (5–13 cm) tall.
Inflorescence
The hairy inflorescence is a spikelet on the end of the stem, surrounded by a bundle of bractlike leaves, and is 1/4" to 1/2" long. The spikelets which are pale in color, sometimes striped with red, purple, or green. It blooms from February to May.