Santa Fe Botanical Garden

Common name: alkali sacaton, alkali dropseed, fine top, zacate alcalino, zacate de agua, cresta de gallo, zacatón

Family: Poaceae (Grass)

Distribution: Central and Western United States, Mexico, British Columbia

Habitat: Bottomlands, floodplains, saline flats, mesas

Hardiness: USDA Zone 3 (-40 to -30 °F)

Life form: Grasses

Occurrence in New Mexico: New Mexico native plant

Growing Conditions: The native range of alkali sacaton includes most of western North America, extending from British Columbia south to California and northern Mexico, and east to Texas and the Dakotas. It is generally found in washes, floodplains and bottomlands, on slopes, mesas or plateaus, or saline flats, at elevations from 2,500-6,500 feet. It usually grows on dry, sandy to gravelly alkaline soils, but also grows on clay and loam, and is tolerant of saline and caliche type soils. It grows in sun or part shade. It uses only a low amount of water and is very drought tolerant. It is tolerant of periods of standing water in alkali sinks and saline playas. In New Mexico, floodplains and playa beds can be covered with an almost solid expanse of these clumps.

Description: Alkali sacaton is a long-lived robust grass that grows 2-3½ feet tall in large, tough clumps that may be 3 feet in diameter, often surrounded by shiny, cream-colored old leaf sheaths. The gray-green leaves are about ¼ inch wide and 6-18 inches long, flat, becoming rolled (involute), and cresting or drooping. The flag blades are ascending. It differs from other members of the genus in having sparse hairs on the tips of the leaf sheaths. The delicate-appearing influorescence, an open pyramidal panicle up to 20 inches long and 10 inches wide, gives the plant an overall fountain-like growth form. The primary and secondary branches of the panicles are slender, stiff, and widely spreading, without spikelets on the lower ¼-⅓ of the branch. The purplish-green spikelets are solitary and spread outward on pedicels (stalks) from the branch. Spikelets have a single floret and no awns. The seeds fall readily from the spikelet at maturity. The root system is fibrous and without rhizomes.