How to Grow and Care for Curly Mesquite

James' galleta (Hilaria jamesii) is a perennial grass that can grow to 61 cm tall. It thrives in full sun or partial shade and prefers dry, rocky or sandy soil. It blooms with spikes of brown flowers that are replaced by seeds. It grows in clumps and reproduces by underground rhizomes.

You can expect to see the white seed heads of tobosa grass (Hilaria mutica) in mesquite lowlands subject to frequent flooding and also in upland scrubs and pinyon-juniper woodlands. Tobosa grass is an important and high-yielding forage crop for horses and cattle and is highly prized for its drought tolerance.

Big galleta (Hilaria rigida) is a desert grass native to the southwest United States and northern Mexico. Though individual stalks die off, the clumps they grow in can persist more than 100 years. Big galleta is considered one of the best desert plants for livestock and is also good at controlling erosion. It is found in deserts as high as 1600 m in elevation.

It spreads by stolons which extend along the ground and root to grow new tufts. The grass has been known to spread 4 m in one season. This is the main method of reproduction in the plant because it is often sterile and rarely forms seeds. One of the two varieties, H. b. var. longifolia, does not form stolons, however.