• GENERAL DISTRIBUTION
• ECOSYSTEMS
• STATES
• BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS
• KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS
• SAF COVER TYPES
• SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES
• HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES

GENERAL DISTRIBUTION:

Curly mesquite occurs in the southwestern United States from southern Oklahoma and Texas to Arizona and southeastern California [32,36].

ECOSYSTEMS:

FRES32   Texas savanna
FRES33   Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES34   Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES35   Pinyon-juniper
FRES38   Plains grasslands
FRES40   Desert grasslands

STATES:

AZ    CA    NM    OK    TX

BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS:

  3   Southern Pacific Border
  7   Lower Basin and Range
12   Colorado Plateau
13   Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14   Great Plains

KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS:

K023   Juniper-pinyon woodland
K031   Oak-juniper woodlands
K058   Grama-tobosa shrubsteppe
K060   Mesquite-savanna
K061   Mesquite-acacia
K061   Mesquite-live oak savanna
K086   Juniper-oak savanna

SAF COVER TYPES:

  68   Mesquite
239   Pinyon-juniper
241   Western Live oak
242   Mesquite

SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES:

503   Arizona chaparral
505   Grama-tobosa shrub
508   Creosotebush-tarbush
701   Alkali sacaton-tobosagrass
702   Black grama-alkali sacaton
705   Blue grama-galleta
715   Grama-buffalograss
728   Mesquite-granjeno-acacia
729   Mesquite
733   Juniper-oak
734   Mesquite-oak

HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES:

Curlymesquite appears in desert and semi-desert grasslands and shrubsteppes. In desert plains grasslands in the Southwest, curlymesquite and blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) dominate, with hairy grama (B. hirsuta), black grama (B. eriopoda), tobosa (Hilaria mutica), threeawn species (Aristida spp.), New Mexico feathergrass (Stipa neomexicana), sideoats grama (B. curtipendula), and bush muhly (Muhlenbergia porteri). Occasional honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) and acacia (Acacia spp.) are also found in this community [25].

In southern Texas, curlymesquite appears in thornscrub woodland with honey mesquite, brasil (Condalia obovata), huisache (A. farnesiana), blackbrush acacia (A. rigidula), white brush (Aloysia gratissima), Texas persimmon (Diospyros texana), cactus (Opuntia spp.), prairie broomweed (Amphiachyris dracunculoides), sensitivebriar (Shrankia latidens), Indian mallow (Abutilon incarnum), Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon), red threeawn (Aristida purpurea), buffelgrass (Cenchrus ciliaris), and bristlegrass (Setaria spp.) [9].

On the Edwards Plateau, Texas, curlymesquite is part of short-and mid-grass rangelands, with dominant overstories of redberry juniper (Juniperus pinchottii) and honey mesquite and understories of red threeawn, red grama (B. trifida), hairy tridens (Erioneuron pilosum), Reverchon bristlegrass (S. reverchonii), needleleaf bluet (Hedyotis acerosavar. acerosa), Parks groomwell (Lithospermum parksii), mouse-ear (Tiquilia canescens), and longstalk greenthread (Thelesperma longipes) [17].

Vegetation typings describing communities in which curlymesquite is dominant include:

Flora and vegetation of the Rincon Mountains, Pima County, Arizona [7]
Biotic communities of the Southwest [13]
A vegetation classification system for New Mexico, U.S.A. [16]
A vegetation classification system applied to southern California [41]

Related categories for SPECIES: Hilaria belangeri | Curlymesquite