Black Grama

Bouteloua eriopoda (Torr.) Torr. Pacif. R. R. Rep. 4: 155. 1857
Chondrosium eriopodum Torr. in Emory, Notes Mil. Rcc. 154. 1848.
Bouteloua brevifolia Buckl. Proc. Acad. Phila. 1862: 93. 1862. (Type from western Texas, Wright 748.)
Perennial; culms wiry, straggling, sparsely stoloniferous, geniculate at the nodes, feltypubescent, the base rather hard and knotty; upper sheaths shorter than the internodes, glabrous, the lov.ermost crowded, felty-pubescent; blades flat or loosely rolled, attenuate, mostly 5-10 cm. long, 1-2 mm. wide, glabrous; spikes 3-5, mostly 2-5 cm. long, somewhat curved, ascending or sometinies spreading; spikelets rather loosely arranged, nearly appressed to the rachis; glumes acuminate, the first narrow, 3 mm. long, the second broader, 7 mm. long, glabrous; lemma 6-7 mm. long, bearded at the base, sparsely pilose on the margins and midnerve, acuminate, gradually narrowed into the awn, the awn 3-4 mm. long, the lateral awns very short; rudiment short-bearded at the top of the slender rachilla-joint, almost reduced to 3 slender scabrous awns about 7 mm. long.
Type locality : New Mexico (Bigelow) .
Distribution: Mesas, hills and dry open ground, Utah, western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico.