Plants perennial; densely cespitose. Culms 27-100(140)
cm, stiffly erect, unbranched, glabrous. Sheaths mostly shorter than
the internodes, glabrous; ligules 0.5-1 mm, of hairs; blades 4-30
cm long, 2-5.5 mm wide, adaxial surfaces smooth to slightly scabrous. Panicles
20-30 cm, with 50+ branches; rachises more or less scabrous; branches
2-3 cm, arcuate, axes more or less scabrous. Spikelets usually with 4-8
florets. Lower glumes 0.8-1.5 mm, 1-veined; upper glumes about
2.5 mm, 1-3-veined; lemmas about 3 mm, glabrous, mostly smooth, keels
scabridulous; paleas about 2 mm, keels scabrous; anthers about
1 mm. Caryopses 1.2-1.3 mm, fusiform, light brown; embryos less
than 1/2 as long as the caryopses. 2n = 120.
Pogonarthria squarrosa is native to eastern and southern Africa, where
it is said to be common. In the Flora region, P. squarrosa grows
spontaneously only in a small area in the foothills of the Huachuca Mountains,
Cochise County, Arizona, at an elevation of about 1450 m, where it seems to
be competing well with native grasses and Eragrostis
lehmanniana, another African introduction. The plants tend to grow in
rather dense colonies of a few square meters, scattered through the area. It
is a handsome species that turns reddish-brown as it matures, causing it to
stand out among its associates.
