• GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS
• RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM
• REGENERATION PROCESSES
• SITE CHARACTERISTICS
• SUCCESSIONAL STATUS
• SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT

GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS:

Curlymesquite is a native, perennial, warm-season shortgrass. Tufts grow to 4 to 12 inches (10-30 cm) tall [24]. The plant is a sod-former that sends out slender stolons to produce new tufts [27,56].

Longevity of curlymesquite in southern Arizona was determined to be shorter than 9 years on grazed study plots and shorter than 5 years on ungrazed plots [15].

RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM:

Chamaephyte

REGENERATION PROCESSES:

Curlymesquite reproduces by seed or, more commonly, by long stolons that establish new tufts [14,27,53,56]. In a good season, the plant can spread as much as 13 feet (4 m) [14].

Plants produce very few seeds and are often sterile [14,56]. Curlymesquite is not self-fertile [14]. After 20 years uncontrolled storage, only 6% of curlymesquite seeds germinated near Globe, Arizona [52]. Seed germination increased from 59 to 92% and 55 to 87% in 2 trials after an afterripening period of 12 weeks. Removing the seed fascicles also increases germination percentage and lengthens storage periods [42].

The presence of seeds in the soil seedbank depends, in part, on management practices. In a soil seedbank study in a semiarid Texas grassland, curlymesquite, which was a dominant feature of the extant vegetation, had high germinable seed density (254/m²) under heavy continuous grazing. Seed density was low to none under grazing exclusion [34,33].

SITE CHARACTERISTICS:

Curlymesquite is found on dry, open foothills, mesas, rocky slopes, and swales throughout the Southwest [29,32,53]. The plant grows on a wide variety of soils, but grows best on loams to clay loams with pH of 6.8 to 7.4 [36].

Curlymesquite is not a particularly drought-tolerant species [10]. In Arizona desert grasslands, curlymesquite sites receive 13-19 inches (330-483 mm) of precipitation [45]. The semidesert grasslands in New Mexico and Arizona, of which curlymesquite is a prominent component, receive between 10 and 18 inches (250 and 450 mm) annual precipitation, over 50% of which comes from April to September [12].

In southeastern Arizona, curlymesquite is most common on rolling uplands and south-facing treeless slopes, from 1,500 to 6,000 feet (450-1818 m) [32], particularly on sites with much exposed rock and sparse litter [4] and well-drained clay soils [58].

SUCCESSIONAL STATUS:

Curlymesquite is a mid-seral species [26,45]. Curlymesquite, due to its grazing tolerance, dominates on overgrazed sites [33,45,57].

Curlymesquite is not shade tolerant [36,56].

SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT:

Curlymesquite is one of the first grasses to start growth in the late spring [34,51], with seedheads emerging about 1 month later [36,51]. In some areas it is dependent on summer rains to initiate growth. In southern Arizona, annual summer rains normally begin in July, at which time plants begin their rapid growth, mature quickly, and begin to dry up by the middle of October [38]. Except for a few green shoots in the spring, the grasses show no further growth until the summer rains. In the coastal plains of Texas, curlymesquite grows throughout the year, wherever moisture is available [8]. Its growth there does not follow a rigid seasonal pattern, as the area normally receives 30 inches (760 mm) of precipitation yearly. In Texas, flowering occurs mostly form August to October, but occasionally from March to November [24].

Curlymesquite is dormant during drought [56].

Related categories for SPECIES: Hilaria belangeri | Curlymesquite