Bouteloua curtipendula | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Monocots |
Clade: | Commelinids |
Order: | Poales |
Family: | Poaceae |
Genus: | Bouteloua |
Species: | B. curtipendula |
Binomial name | |
Bouteloua curtipendula | |
Synonyms [1] [2] | |
Synonymy
|
Bouteloua curtipendula, commonly known as sideoats grama, [3] is a perennial, short prairie grass that is native throughout the temperate and tropical Western Hemisphere, from Canada south to Argentina.
The species epithet comes from Latin curtus "shortened" and pendulus "hanging".
Sideoats grama is a warm-season grass. The culms (flowering stems) are 30–100 cm (12–39 in) tall, [4] and have alternate leaves that are concentrated at the bottom of the culm. [5] The leaves are light green to blue-green in color, and up to 6 mm (1⁄4 in) across. [5]
The flowers bloom in summer and autumn. They consist of compact spikes that hang alternately in a raceme along the top 15 to 25 cm (6 to 10 in) of the culm. The spikes often fall to one side of the stem, which gives the plant its name. There are 10–50 spikes per culm, and in each spike there are three to six spikelets, or rarely as many as 10. Each spikelet is 4.5 to 10 mm (3⁄16 to 13⁄32 in) long [4] and consists of two glumes and two florets. One of the florets is fertile, and has colorful orange to brownish red anthers and feathery white stigmas during the blooming period, which contrasts with the pale green, pale red, greenish-red, or purple [6] color of the spikes themselves. [5]
After blooming, the spikes become straw-colored. The fertile florets produce seeds, and when they are ripe, the spikes fall to the ground. [5]
Sideoats grama grows well on mountainous plateaus, rocky slopes, and sandy plains. It is drought- and cold-tolerant and is hardy in USDA hardiness zones 4–9 (average annual minimums of −30 to 25 °F, −34 to −4 °C).
It provides larval food for the veined ctenucha ( Ctenucha venosa ). [7]
It is currently listed as a threatened species in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is considered as an endangered species in Connecticut.[ non-primary source needed ]
Sideoats grama is considered a good foraging grass for livestock. It is planted for erosion control.
It is cultivated as an ornamental plant for native plant and drought-tolerant gardens.
Sideoats grama is the state grass of Texas. [8]
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.
Bouteloua gracilis, the blue grama, is a long-lived, warm-season (C4) perennial grass, native to North America.
Bouteloua is a genus of plants in the grass family. Members of the genus are commonly known as grama grass.
Sporobolus heterolepis, commonly known as prairie dropseed, is a species of prairie grass native to the tallgrass and mixed grass prairies of central North America from Texas to southern Canada. It is also found further east, to the Atlantic coast of the United States and Canada, but is much less common beyond the Great Plains and is restricted to specialized habitats. It is found in 27 states and four Canadian provinces.
Bouteloua dactyloides, commonly known as buffalograss or buffalo grass, is a North American prairie grass native to Canada, Mexico, and the United States. It is a shortgrass found mainly on the High Plains and is co-dominant with blue grama over most of the shortgrass prairie.
Bromus hordeaceus, the soft brome, is an annual or biennial species of grass in the grass family (Poaceae). It is also known in North America as bull grass, soft cheat, and soft chess.
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.
Bouteloua hirsuta, commonly known as hairy grama, is a perennial short prairie grass that is native throughout much of North America, including the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies region, as well as Mexico and Guatemala.
Melica ciliata, the hairy melic or silky spike melic, is a species of flowering plant in the grass family Poaceae, native to Europe, north Africa and temperate Asia. It has been introduced to South Australia.
Lespedeza leptostachya is a rare species of flowering plant in the legume family known by the common names prairie lespedeza and prairie bush-clover. It occurs in the Upper Midwest region of the United States. The flowers are creamy-white to purplish and arranged into a narrow terminal spikes.
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.
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.
Muhlenbergia cuspidata is a species of grass known by the common name plains muhly. It is native to North America where it is distributed across central Canada and the central United States.
Hilaria mutica, synonym Pleuraphis mutica, is a species of grass known by the common name tobosa, or tobosa grass. It is native to Northern Mexico, and the Southwestern United States, in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Melica montezumae, Montezuma melicgrass, is a grass species in the family Poaceae that can be found in Texas and Mexico.
Melica porteri, known as Porter's melicgrass, is a species of grass that grows in the United States and Mexico. In the US it is found in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and Iowa.
Ctenucha venosa, the veined ctenucha moth, is a moth of the family Erebidae. It was described by Francis Walker in 1854. It is found in the US from southern Nevada and Arizona to Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, as well as in Mexico, Guatemala, Panama and Venezuela.
Carex eburnea, known as ivory sedge, ebony sedge, and bristleleaf or bristle-leaved sedge, is a small and slender sedge native to North America, from Alaska and Newfoundland south to central Mexico.
Bouteloua chondrosioides, commonly known as sprucetop grama, is a perennial bunchgrass native to southern Arizona and northern Mexico.