Forage is a plant material eaten by grazing livestock. Historically, the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially as hay or silage.
Dry–mesic prairie is a native grassland community made up mid-to-tall grasses and a diverse mixture of forbs. The sandy loam or loamy sand soils of Dry-mesic Prairie support grasses that are shorter and grow less densely than Wet-mesic and Wet Prairies. Big bluestem, little bluestem, Indian grass, and porcupine grass are the most abundant grasses in dry-mesic prairie.
Andropogon gerardi, commonly known as big bluestem, is a species of tall grass native to much of the Great Plains and grassland regions of central and eastern North America. It is also known as tall bluestem, bluejoint, and turkeyfoot.
Sorghastrum nutans, commonly known as either Indiangrass or yellow Indiangrass, is a North American prairie grass found in the Central United States, the Eastern United States, and Canada, especially in the Great Plains and tallgrass prairies.
Schizachyrium scoparium, commonly known as little bluestem or beard grass, is a species of North American prairie grass native to most of the contiguous United States as well as a small area north of the Canada–US border and northern Mexico. It is most common in the Midwestern prairies and is one of the most abundant native plants in Texas grasslands.
Andropogon is a widespread genus of plants in the grass family, native to much of Asia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as Southern Europe and various oceanic islands.
Andropogon glomeratus is a species of grass known by the common names bushy bluestem and bushy beardgrass. This bunchgrass is native to the Americas, where it is widespread. It has also naturalized in other areas.
Houston black soil extends over 1,500,000 acres (6,100 km2) of the Texas blackland prairies and is the Texas state soil. The series is composed of expansive clays and is considered one of the classic vertisols.
Andropogon virginicus is a species of grass known by several common names, including broomsedge bluestem, yellowsedge bluestem and whiskey grass. It is native to the southeastern United States and as far north as the Great Lakes. It is known as an introduced species in California and Hawaii, where it is weedy.
Tripsacum dactyloides, commonly called eastern gamagrass, or Fakahatchee grass, is a warm-season, sod-forming bunch grass. It is widespread in the Western Hemisphere, native from the eastern United States to northern South America. Its natural habitat is in sunny moist areas, such as along watercourses and in wet prairies. In some areas, it has adapted well to disturbed conditions.
Tetracoccus hallii is a species of flowering shrub in the family Picrodendraceae, known by the common names Hall's shrubby-spurge and Hall's tetracoccus.
Dalea purpurea is a species of flowering plant in the legume family known as purple prairie clover. Native to central North America, purple prairie clover is a relatively common member of the Great Plains and prairie ecosystems. It blooms in the summer with dense spikes of bright purple flowers that attract many species of insects.
Andropogon ternarius is a species of grass known by the common names split bluestem, splitbeard bluestem, silver bluestem, and paintbrush bluestem. It is native to the southeastern, east-central, and south-central parts of the United States, where it occurs from New Jersey south to Florida and west to Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Arundinaria gigantea is a species of bamboo known as giant cane, river cane, and giant river cane. It is endemic to the south-central and southeastern United States as far west as Oklahoma and Texas and as far north as New York. Giant river cane was economically and culturally important to indigenous people, with uses including as a vegetable and materials for construction and craft production. Arundinaria gigantea and other species of Arundinaria once grew in large colonies called canebrakes covering thousands of acres in the southeastern United States, but today these canebrakes are considered endangered ecosystems.
Carex inops is a species of sedge known as long-stolon sedge and western oak sedge. It is native to northern North America, where it occurs throughout the southern half of Canada and the western and central United States.
Proboscidea sabulosa is a species of flowering plant in the family Martyniaceae known by the common names sanddune unicorn-plant, dune unicorn plant and dune devil's claw. It is native to Chihuahua in Mexico and New Mexico and Texas in the United States.
Amphicarpum muehlenbergianum is a species of grass known by the common names blue maidencane, Muhlenberg maidencane, and goobergrass. It is native to the southeastern United States.
Andropogon capillipes is a species of grass known by the common name chalky bluestem. It is native to the southeastern United States as far west as Texas.
Claviceps pusilla, also known as bluestem ergot, is a parasitic fungus primarily of the grass tribe Angropogoneae, particularly those in the tribe referred to as "bluestem". C. pusilla occasionally manifests characteristic triangular conidia which appear to be unique among Claviceps species.
Symphyotrichum hallii is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae endemic to western Oregon and Washington states. Commonly known as Hall's aster, it is a perennial, herbaceous plant with a long rhizome that creates colonies of itself. It grows about 30–60 centimeters tall, and has white rays that open July–August.
