Slender Grama
Bouteloua repens
Family: Poaceae
Tufted perennial grass without rhizomes or stolens, to about 2’ tall. Warm Season grass, goes dormant in winter. Flowers August-December.
Full to part sun, best on irrigation in low desert.
This species is a part of a group of Bouteloua very similar in appearance being perennials with short inflorescence branches (sometimes appearing as clusters of spikelets) on both sides of the axis and are deciduous, completely falling off and leaving a small nodule behind. Distinguished from the similar B. radicosa and B. chondrosioides by often having less hair along the rachilla of the spikelets, and most hair restricted to the rachilla and midnerve of the lemmas; 7 - 12 spikate branches; from B. radicosa by lacking a hard, knotty, rhizomotous base; and a generally yellowish or grayish tinge, with often thinner leaves than the others.
Many bee species collect the pollen of many species of grasses. All can be used for desert tortoise enclosures, though the more spreading types are better for keeping up with a tortoise appetite. All grasses provide as larval hosts to many grass generalist Lepidoptera, especially species of skippers. The poor forage value of this species increases its utility in erosion control and in disturbed areas in which grazing animals cannot be excluded.
Grasses also play an important role in the ecology of soil, and because they are monocots, they can be planted close to other species of plants (the nature of the root systems of monocots renders them less imposing on neighboring plants). They hold soil down and help prevent erosion. Many species are pioneer plants that convert disturbed soils into hospitable places for other plants.
Bouteloua named for brothers Claudio (1774-1842) and Esteban (1776-1813) Boutelou Agraz, Spanish botanists and horticulturalists; repens means having creeping and rooting stems. There are 57 species of Bouteloua found only in the Americas, with most diversity centered in the southwestern United States.
Found on dry rocky slopes, below 5,000 ft. in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas; south through Greater Antilles, Mexico, Central America to northern South America.
A plant with fresh floral spikes at Solero Ranch in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. Photo by Sue Carnahan, SEINEt
A patch of slender grama in Wilson County, Texas. Photo by donkirchoff, iNaturalist