Plants perennial; cespitose, usually stoloniferous. Culms 5-35 cm,
erect; nodes villous. Sheaths striate, glabrous; ligules
1-3 mm, often lacerate; blades 3-15 cm long, 1-3.5 mm wide, adaxial surfaces
sparsely pilose, hairs papillose-based, margins sparsely pilose basally, with
similar hairs. Panicles 2-4 cm; fascicles 5-8 mm. Lateral spikelets
with 2(3) staminate florets, or 1 sterile floret; glumes unequal, thick,indurate,
and conspicuously fused basally, thinner distally, asymmetrically lobed, scabrous,
pale to purplish, bases sometimes spotted with a few dark glands, margins wide,
hyaline, awns 1 or more, attached below midlength, equaling or exceeding the central
spikelets, antrorsely scabrous; lower glumes wider, more deeply lobed,
with longer awn(s) than the upper glumes; anthers 3, 3-3.7 mm. Central
spikelets as long as or longer than the lateral spikelets, with 1 pistillate
floret; glumes terminating in 1 or more antrorsely scabrous awns. 2n
= 36, 72, 74.
Both varieties of Hilaria belangeri are found on mesas and plains within
the regions indicated.
FNA 2003, Gould 1980
Common Name: curly-mesquite Duration: Perennial Nativity: Native Lifeform: Graminoid General: Low tufted perennial grass up to 30 cm tall; stems stoloniferous and sod-forming, curving over and rooting at nodes; usually only upper one or two internodes erect; nodes with dense tufts of long white hairs. Vegetative: Blades flat and thin, 2 mm wide, 5-20 cm long, flat to arcuate with some pustulate hairs; sheath open, margins overlapping; ligule membranous, obtuse to truncate, lacerate, 0.5-1 mm long. Inflorescence: Spikes exserted on slender, filiform stem apices, less than 5 cm long with 4-9 spikelet clusters; the clusters have 3 spikelets and disarticulate as a unit, leaving zig-zag rachises; lateral spikelets with 2(3) staminate florets, or 1 sterile floret, the glumes variable, the inner reduced and outer broadened above, notched or lobed, with midnerved extended into short awn; central spikelets as long as or longer than the lateral spikelets, with 1 pistillate floret, glumes terminating in 1 or more antrorsely scabrous awns, the awns 4-5 mm; lemmas thin, awnless, about as long as glumes; caryopsis free from palea, mostly 1.5-2 mm long, flattened and oblong. Ecology: Rocky slopes, dry hillsides and sandy plains; 3,000-6,000 ft (914-1829 m); flowers July-November. Distribution: AZ, NM, s TX; south to s MEX. Notes: The genus is distinguished by the rigid inflorescence spikes which produce groups of 3 sessile, awned spikelets, that when mature, have conspicuous tan-white papery bracts (glumes) which often splay out. The 3 spikelets fall as a unit and leave a characteristic zig-zag naked seed stalk. H. belangeri distinguished by being smaller >35 cm and most often with runners producing new shoots and plants which can often develop into large colonies. Ethnobotany: Unknown Etymology: Hilaria is named for Auguste St. Hilaire (1779-1853), a French naturalist; the specific epithet honors another French naturalist, Charles Paulus Belanger (1805-1881). Synonyms: None Editor: SBuckley 2010, FSCoburn 2014