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Curly-mesquite

Hilaria belangeri

Also called Common Curlymesquite

Curly-mesquite
Photo: Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950. Manual of the grasses of the United States. USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 20, Public domain

Curly-mesquite is a perennial grass native to the desert grasslands of Mexico and the southwestern United States. It forms low sod by spreading along the ground on stolons, and it is grown mainly for erosion control and rangeland cover rather than as a garden or houseplant.

Family
Poaceae (Grass family)
Grows as
Grass, Perennial
Light
Full sun
Water
Drought tolerant once established; water deeply but infrequently, and rely on rainfall where possible.
Soil
Tolerates a wide range of soils, including sandy, gravelly and poor ones, provided drainage is good.
Temperature
Hardy in hot, dry conditions; tolerates cold winters in its native range down to around -10 °C.
How easy
Easy
Safety
Not known to be toxic
Native range
Arizona to Texas and Mexico
Climate
desert or dry shrubland

About

Hilaria belangeri is a species of grass known by the common name curly mesquite, sometimes written curlymesquite or curly-mesquite. It is not related to mesquites, which are legumes. This grass is native to Mexico and the southwestern United States from Arizona to Texas.

This perennial grass forms tufts of stems growing up to about 30 cm tall. It forms a sod. It spreads by stolons which extend along the ground and root to grow new tufts. The grass has been known to spread 4 m in one season. This is the main method of reproduction in the plant because it is often sterile and rarely forms seeds. One of the two varieties, H. b. var. longifolia, does not form stolons, however.

Other Hilaria plants

James' Galleta · Tobosa Grass · Big Galleta · Curly-mesquite

Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Hilaria belangeri by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.

The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.

Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.

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