Tanglehead
Heteropogon contortus

Family: Poaceae

Tufted perennial grass reaching from 3-5’ tall.

Full sun to shady spots, best on irrigation but will exist in areas where water naturally collects. Flowers August to October, and occasionally in the springtime also. The name tanglehead refers to this seedheads on this plant which have a tendency to bunch up and “tangle” upon ripening. The foliage turns reddish orange in winter.

A distinct perennial grass to 1.5 m, distinguished by the single-seeded spikelets with long, twisted, dark brown awns, which often fall entangled with the awns of other spikelets; also look for the large green-brown glumes subtending each spikelet which hug the inflorescence spike.

Fair to good for cattle and horses before maturity. A valuable forage grass if continuously grazed so as to prevent the hardened tissue from developing which can cause annoyance for thick-furred domestic animals like sheep. Native Hawaiians used this plant to thatch their houses. It is an excellent grass for restoration, especially competitive with problematic invasive grasses like buffelgrass or fountain grass.

Heteropogon is from Greek for differently or variously bearded, alluding to the difference between the awnless-homogamous spikelets and the awned-heterogamous spikelets; contortus means twisted, referring to the long, twisted awns. There are 5 species of Heteropogon widespread primarily in tropical and subtropical regions.

Found in open, dry, rocky and sandy plains, slopes, and roadsides from 1,000-5,500 ft. in southern California, Arizona, southern New Mexico, southern Texas; south through southern Mexico to South America and introduced to much of the Old World.

Photo by François Rousseu, iNaturalist
Heteropogon contortus on SEINET