Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Broomsedge bluestem

BROOMSEDGE BLUESTEM

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Andropogon virginicus Nieuw.

Ottawa County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 20-48 inches

Family: Poaceae – Grass Family

Flowering Period: September,October

Culms:

Usually in small tufts, erect, slender, grooved on one side, branching in upper 2/3.

Blades:

Basal and cauline, linear, flat or folded, 4 to 18 inches long, .06 to .2 inch wide, conspicuous midrib, margins slightly rough, upper surface sparsely pilose near base.

Sheaths:

Shorter than internode, glabrous to sparsely pilose along margins, lower sheaths keeled, upper sheath usually longer than the inflorescence; internodes villous.

Ligules:

Short ciliate membrane

Inflorescences:

Narrow, elongated, panicles, 6-40 per culm, each with 2-5 racemes; racemes .8 to 1.2 inch long, partially enclosed by sheathing bract; rachis slender, flexuous, long-villous.

Spikelets:

Borne in pairs at each node, one spikelet sessile and fertile and one spikelet pedicellate and not fully developed; sessile spikelets narrow; glumes nearly equal, .12 to .16 inch long, keeled; first lemma empty, hyaline; fertile lemma membranous or hyaline; awn .4 to .8 inch long, straight, twisted proximally.

Habitat:

Open sandy or rocky soils of prairies, pastures, roadsides, and waste areas.

Distribution:

East 1/2 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Forage Value:

Some early forage value but nutritional quality and palatability decreases with maturity.

Uses:

Broomsedge bluestem provides wildlife cover.

Comments:

Broomsedge bluestem is somewhat weedy. The autumn foliage has a distinct orange color.