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Remember the spear grass fights of our youth? Whether it was with friends, neighborhood kids or cousins, the first swimming trip of the summer usually began or ended with a spear grass battle.
The seed heads of Texas wintergrass ripen at the beginning of summer providing an ample supply of spears, an oat-like seed with a 2-4 inch twisted awn, to use as ammunition for a brief running skirmish. The resemblance to a spear is really uncanny.
(photo courtesy Native American Seed)
Most of the time when I reflect on a marvel of nature, I usually don’t have an answer. But the secret of the barbed seed and twisted awn has been revealed by careful observation. The twisted awn is an evolutionary tool responding to the humidity in the air. The awn twists and untwists with the changing humidity gently driving the seed into the ground. The barbed tip of the seed catches in the coats and artificial coats (socks and clothing) of any and all passing animals insuring a wider dispersal.
This particular feature has earned Texas wintergrass an ugly reputation with the sheep and goat raisers. The seed would lower the quality of the wool or mohair, and before the eradication of the screw worm, any sore caused by the seed burrowing into the coat would become packed with screw worms.
On the other hand, Texas wintergrass is the most wide spread prolific cool season grass available for grazing, providing valuable forage in lean months. The grass grows best in the deeper soils of pecan bottoms or mesquite flats.
Even though it is found in dense stands in shady pecan bottoms, Texas wintergrass has only a medium tolerance for shade. It is a cool season grass, so during most of its active growing cycle the leaves of the pecan trees have not flushed out yet. By the time the pecans are fully leafed out our hot Texas summer is beginning in earnest and the Texas wintergrass has finished with its seasonal growth. It will stay green all summer under the trees as long as it doesn’t get too dry or too hot, in which case it will turn brown and go dormant.
Texas wintergrass, Nassella leucotricha, is found growing from Northern Mexico up into Northern Oklahoma.
Add some diversity to your environment for the wildlife and for you. Plant some Texas wintergrass this fall and in the spring ambush some unsuspecting youngsters and squeals of laughter will fill the early summer air.
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**ARCHIVED POST AUTHOR: znobia
