{"id":189,"date":"2024-11-08T14:24:37","date_gmt":"2024-11-08T14:24:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/?p=189"},"modified":"2024-11-08T14:30:02","modified_gmt":"2024-11-08T14:30:02","slug":"hesperostipa-hiding-in-the-garden-of-the-gods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/2024\/11\/08\/hesperostipa-hiding-in-the-garden-of-the-gods\/","title":{"rendered":"Hesperostipa: Hiding in the Garden of the Gods"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Hesperostipa
Hesperostipa neomexicana.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A visit to the Garden of The Gods in Colorado Springs in Colorado, in 2023 was relatively uneventful, until I met a stand with critters that brought curling to a whole new level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Garden of the Gods itself is gorgeous, with towering red rocks jutting out majestically from the earth. Trails wound in and out of the area, and the number of people visiting was nothing short of astronomical. I was amazed that we even managed to find parking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Walkway
Walkway in the Garden of the Gods, flanked by grass.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Once safely parked and in the trails though, we found that only the major paths were congested with people, and that wandering into the smaller walkways had significant benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was during our walk along one of the lesser known paths that I chanced upon a stand of grasses that made me stop dead in my tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hesperostipa
Hesperostipa neomexicana, looking like a horse’s tail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The grasses were not really conspicuous, except for the amazingly long and curled awns that adorned their spikelets. Some looked remarkably like horse tails, while others were curled so strongly that they formed circular hooks and hoops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I later identified this as possibly Hesperostipa neomexicana<\/em>, which can be distinguished from Hesperostipa commata<\/em> by its longer awns and shorter ligules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Hesperostipa
Hesperostipa neomexicaca<\/em> hooped awns.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The species is a bunchgrass that grows in dry, rocky, or sandy slopes, and can be found in grasslands with pinyon pine and oaks. It is the dominant in Hesperostipa neomexicana<\/em> Grasslands, which is a vulnerable habitat that can be found in extremely dry and warm sites in the southeastern Colorado Great Plains, along the adjacent Rocky Mountain foothills, and in the San Luis Valley of south-central Colorado. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I only found that one instance of this species in the Garden of the Gods, but it definitely stood out, and I look forward to seeing it again when I next visit the southwest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Garden of the Gods surrounded by grasses.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A visit to the Garden of The Gods in Colorado Springs in Colorado, in 2023 was relatively uneventful, until I met a stand with critters that brought curling to a whole new level. The Garden of the Gods itself is gorgeous, with towering red rocks jutting out majestically from the earth. Trails wound in and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_siteseo_robots_primary_cat":"none","footnotes":""},"categories":[9,8],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-macrophotography","category-species-observations","tag-hesperostipa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":201,"href":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions\/201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/keyapa.com\/sp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}