Plant · P-700

Indian Ricegrass

Eriocoma hymenoides

Indian Ricegrass is a desert bunchgrass that holds loose sand in place where few other perennial grasses will grow, and it cures standing in the field into a winter feed that livestock and wildlife keep eating through the cold months. Its large protein-rich seed was a staple food across the arid west, traditionally beaten from the heads and parched to burn off the fine hairs before grinding into meal. The seed coat is thick and dormant, so most plantings are sown in autumn and left for winter cold to do the work of breaking it.