''Bouteloua eriopoda'', commonly known as black grama, is a perennial prairie grass that is native to the

Southwestern United States The Southwestern United States, also known as the American Southwest or simply the Southwest, is a geographic and cultural region of the United States that generally includes Arizona, New Mexico, and adjacent portions of California, Colorado, Ne ...

. Its main means of

reproduction Reproduction (or procreation or breeding) is the biological process by which new individual organisms – "offspring" – are produced from their "parent" or parents. Reproduction is a fundamental feature of all known life; each individual or ...

is by

stolon In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external s ...

s, as its ratio of viable seeds to sterile ones is naturally low. The disparity may play a role in its lack of tolerance to overgrazing (relative to other grasses), but aside from this ''B. eriopoda'' is a good forage food for livestock. It was first described, as ''Chondrosum eriopodum'', in 1848 from specimens collected along and nearby the "Del Norte" river in New Mexico.

Distribution

''B. eriopoda'' is found in the following U.S. states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Nevada,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service
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References

External links

USDA PLANTS Profile for ''Bouteloua eriopoda'' (black grama)Jepson Manual treatment for ''Bouteloua eriopoda''
eriopoda Grasses of North America Grasses of Mexico Grasses of the United States Native grasses of California Native grasses of Texas Native grasses of Oklahoma Flora of Northeastern Mexico Flora of Arizona Flora of Colorado Flora of Kansas Flora of New Mexico Flora of Nevada Flora of Oklahoma Flora of Texas Flora of Utah Flora of Wyoming Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Chihuahuan Desert Flora of the Mexican Plateau Natural history of the Mojave Desert Plants described in 1848 North American desert flora Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Chloridoideae-stub