Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

SAND BLUESTEM

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Andropogon hallii Hack.

Barber County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 2-6 feet

Family: Poaceae - Grass Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September

Culms:

Erect, stout, simple at base, branched above, solid, grooved on 1 side, smooth or nearly so, more or less waxy.

Blades:

Flat to rolled, 2 to 20 inches long, 1/5 to 2/5 inch wide, midrib prominent, upper surface ridged, slightly rough; lower surface smooth; margins rough; often soft-hairy, particularly near collar.

Sheaths:

Shorter than internodes, slightly keeled, smooth, waxy.

Ligules:

Fringed membrane, 1/8 to 1/6 inch long.

Inflorescences:

Racemes, 2-7, stalked, finger-like, 1.6 to 3.6 inches long, terminating main branches; stalks and joints of rachis copiously bearded with grayish to yellowish hairs 1/6 to 1/4 inch long.

Spikelets:

In pairs; sessile spikelet fertile, 2/5 to 1/2 inch long, glumes nearly equal, pubescent; stalked spikelet sterile; fertile lemmas awned or not, sterile lemma awnless.

Habitat:

Sand prairies and sandhills; sandy soils.

Distribution:

West 2/3 of Kansas.

Uses:

Sand bluestem is sometimes used on sand dunes or blow-out areas to control erosion.

Comments:

Sometimes called "turkey-foot". Intergrades with big bluestem Andropogon gerardii. Sand bluestem has elongated creeping rhizomes while big bluestem has short rhizomes or is non-rhizomatous.

Sand bluestem