Flora of North America species comparison

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Hilaria mutica

tobosa, tobosagrass
Habit Plants perennial; cespitose, rhizomatous.
Culms

30-60 cm, erect, geniculate at the middle nodes;

nodes glabrous or pubescent, hairs to 0.3 mm.
Sheaths

glabrous or sparsely pilose on the margins;

ligules 0.5-2 mm, lacerate;

blades 2-15 cm long, 2-4 mm wide, mostly scabrous on both surfaces, with papillose-based hairs behind the ligules.
Panicles

4-8 cm;

fascicles 5-8 mm.
Lateral

spikelets with 1 or 2(4) staminate florets;

glumes not conspicuously fused basally, thin, papery, flabellate, dorsally awned, awns not exceeding the apices, apical lobes rounded, ciliate to finely laciniate, veins not or scarcely excurrent;

anthers 3, 2.5-3.5 mm.
Central

spikelets with 1 bisexual floret;

glumes with 1 or more divergent, dorsal awns, apical lobes, ciliate to finely laciniate, veins excurrent;

lemmas exceeding the glumes, bilobed, mucronate.
2n

= 36, 54.

Hilaria mutica
Distribution
from USDA
[WildflowerSearch map]
Discussion

Hilaria mutica grows in level upland areas and desert valleys subject to occasional flooding but lacking permanent streams. Its range extends into northern Mexico. Although H. mutica has moderate forage value, its palatability is low and it is frequently infected with ergot.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 276.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Hilaria
Sibling taxa
H. belangeri, H. jamesii, H. rigida, H. swallenii
Synonyms Pleuraphis mutica
Name authority (Buckley) Benth.
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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