Andropogon gerardii
Description: Plants rhizomatous. Culms 12.5 m, glabrous and occasionally glaucous. Blades 20-60 cm, 5-8 mm wide, flat (occasional folded), glabrous, but piloses proximally, margins scabrous-serrate. sheaths loose, glabrous. Racemes terminal, digitate; branches 3-6, 5-7 cm long, inflorescence axes hirsute-villous; spikelets paired at nodes.
Tall, robust growth-taller than a person’s head. Rapid Summer grower and flowers in late summer and early fall. Turkey foot arrangement of racemes in the seedhead. Warm season, native.
Location: Statewide except along the southwest part of Texas in counties along the Rio Grande.
Soil Type: Most soils
Trivia: One of the four tall grasses of the “Tall Grass Prairie.” State grass of Illinois.
Economic, Environmental Importance: Good forage for livestock, provides nesting sites for bobwhite quail and ground cover for birds and small mammals.
stxflora 