Prairie sandreed

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Prairie sandreed inflorescence

Prairie sandreed blades

Prairie sandreed ligule

Prairie sandreed

Prairie sandreed spikelets

Prairie sandreed

Morphology

Culm

Erect, usually solitary, stout, solid or hollow near base, glabrous, waxy.

Blades

Flat near base but rolling inward near thead-like tip, 4 to 24 inches long, 1/6 to 1/3 inch wide near base, slightly rough.

Sheath

Open, crowded, overlapping, mostly glabrous but often hairy on margins at collar; no auricles.

Ligule

Short, dense fringe of hairs.

Inflorescence

Panicle, mostly narrow to loosely spreading, 4 to 16 inches long; branches slender, erect or ascending, smooth; lower branches 4 to 5 inches long.

Spikelets

Flattened, about 1/4 inch long, 1-flowered, crowded; glumes unequal, 1/4 to 1/3 inch long, 1-nerved, rigid, papery; tips pointed; lemmas 1-nerved, glabrous, conspicuous tuft of long hairs at base; awns absent.

Ecology

Habitat

Sandy habitats; sandhills, sand prairies, loose sandy slopes.

Distribution

Primarily north 1/2 of Kansas.

Practical Information

Forage Value

Though coarse and not particularly palatable, livestock will consume the early growth. It will disappear under heavy grazing.

Uses

The Lakota wore the inflorescence on their heads as a war charm instead of feathers and used it to clean their pipes.

Additional Notes