Hairy Grama

Bouteloua hirsuta Lag. Var. Ci. 4: 141. 1805
Chondrosium hirtum H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 176. 1816. (Type locality, Mexico. Humboldt &•
Bonpland.) Actinochloa hirsuta R. & S. Syst. Veg. 2: 419. 1817. (Based on Bouteloua hirsuta Lag.) Eutriana hirta Trin. Gram. Unifl. 240. 1824. (Based on Actinochloa hirsuta R. & S.) Atheropogon hirtus Spreng. Syst. 1: 293. 1825. (Based on Chondrosium hirtum H.B.K.) Chondrosium hirsutum Sweet, Hort. Brit. 1: 455. 1826. (Presumably based on Actinochloa hirsuta
R. & S.) Atheropogon papillosus Engelm. Am. Jour. Sci. 46: 104. 1843. (Type from Beardstown, Illinois,
Geyer.) Chondrosium .Aschenbornianum Nees, Linnaea 19: 692. 1847. (Type from Mexico, Aschenborn 331.) Chondrosium foeneum Torr. in Emory, Notes Mil. Rec. 154. 1848. (Type from valley of the Del
Norte, [New Mexico, Emory Exped.].) Chondrosium papillosum Torr. in Marcy, Expl. 300. 1853. (Based on Atheropogon papillosus
Engelm.) Erucaria hirsuta Cerv. Naturaleza 1: 348. 1870. (Type from Mexico.) Erucaria longifolia Cerv. Naturaleza 1: 350. 1870. (Type from Mexico.)
Bouteloua foenea Torr. in Wats. & Rothr. Cat. PI. Wheeler's Surv. 18. 1874. (Based on Chondrosium foeneum Torr.) Chondrosium Drummondii Fourn. Mex. PI. Gram. 2: 137. 1886. (Type from Texas, Drummond
323.) Bouteloua Palmeri Vasey, Bull. Torrey Club 14: 9, name only. 1887. Later described as B. hirsuta
var. Palmeri Vasey. Bouteloua hirsuta var. minor Vasey, Bull. U.S. Dep. Agr. Bot. 12'; no. 39, nomen seminudum. 1890.
(Type from Texas, Reverchon 1153.) Bouteloua hirsuta var. ynajor Vasey, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Bot. 12': no. 39, nomen seminudum. 1890.
(Type from Austin, Texas, Stiles in 1884.) Bouteloua hirta Scribn. Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 2: 531. 1894. (Based on Chondrosium hirtum
H.B.K.) Bouteloua hirta var. major Vasey; L. Dewey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 2: 531. 1894. (Localities
cited. Western Texas to Mexico.) Bouteloua hirta var. tninor Vasey; L. Dewey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 2; 531. 1894. (Type from
Central Texas.) Bouleloua hirsula var. Palmeri Vasey; Beal, Grasses N. Am. 2: 417. 1896. (Type cultivated, seed
collected by Palmer in Mexico.) Bouieloua pectinata Fcatherly, Bot. Gaz. 91: 103. 1931. (Type from Oklahoma, English 71.)
Perennial ; culms tufted, erect, 20-60 cm. tall, scaberulous; sheaths glabrous or scaberulous, more or less papillose-hispid at the throat; blades firm, flat, acuminate, 5-15 cm. long, 1-3 mm. wide, sparsely papillose-ciliate ; spikes 1-3 (usually 2), mostly 2-4 cm. long, rarely shorter, ascending or spreading, the rachis prolonged beyond the spikelets in a stiff point; first glume narrow, acuminate, hyaline, about 2.5 mm. long, the second broader, acuminate, awn-pointed, pubescent, prominently tuberculate-hispid on the keel; lemma 5 mm. long, sparsely bearded at the base, pilose on the margins and on the lower part of the midnerve, 3-lobed, the lobes mucronate, the middle one somewhat longer than the lateral ones; rudiment glabrous or sometimes shortly bearded at the base, deeply cleft, the awns 2-4 mm. long, with broad scales between them.
Type locality: Mexico.
Distribution: Dry prairies, mesas, rocky slopes, and open ground, Florida; Wisconsin to North Dakota, and southward to Louisiana and southern California; Mexico.

Bouteloua glandulosa (Cerv.) Swallen, comb. nov
Erucaria glandulosa Cerv. Naturaleza 1: 347. 1870.
Bouleloua hirliculmis Scribn. Circ. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 30: 4. 1901. (Type from Sierra de San Francisquito mountains, Baja California, Mexico, Brandegee 11.)
Perennial; very similar in habit and appearance to B. hirsula, differing mostly in its conspicuously papillose-hirsute culms; awns of the rudiment somewhat longer than in B. hirsula and the spike therefore more bristly.
Type locality: "Guadalupe et Moctezuma," Mexico. Distribution: Sterile rocky hills, prairies, and open ground, Mexico.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stolons or runners present, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems mat or turf forming, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less th an 2 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence with 2 or more spikes, fascicles, glomerules, heads, or clusters per culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Inflorescence branches terminating in bristle or point, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemma coriaceous, firmer or thicker in texture than the glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex dentate, 3-5 fid, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma with 3 awns, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Bouteloua hirsuta, commonly known as hairy grama, is a perennial short prairie grass that is native throughout much of North America, including the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies region, as well as Mexico and Guatemala.