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The silvery seed heads are borne well above the foliage. The nodes appear to be swollen and white in color. The stems are bent from one node to the next. Silver bluestem is a native, perennial, bunchgrass (Figure 5). Splitbeard bluestem is usually ignored by cattle, but may be grazed in early spring.

The species resembles little bluestem but has silvery seed heads that open widely at maturity. Splitbeard bluestem is a native, perennial, warm-season bunchgrass that grows 2-4 feet in height (Figure 4). Fun fact: Little bluestem is the official state grass of Kansas. It has fair-to-good forage value, especially in the early-season before stem elongation. The seed heads have small fuzzy seeds with a twisted awn (Figure 3). Plants are 2-4 feet tall and will grow on a wide range of soils including well-drained sands. Stem bases are flat and the vegetation turns reddish-brown when mature. Little bluestem is a native, perennial, warm-season bunchgrass. The grazing value of sand bluestem is good to excellent. The seed head has 2-7 racemes (Figure 2). Sand bluestem produces long creeping rhizomes and grows taller than 6 feet. It resembles big bluestem, but the stems are bluish in color. Sand bluestem is a native, perennial, warm-season grass. Plants are leafy at the base and are very palatable to livestock (Figure 1). Seed heads typically have 3 racemes that appear like a “turkey foot”. In a vegetative stage, big bluestem can be identified by the fuzzy hairs located on the lower sheath and leaf blades. It can grow up to 6-8 feet and has short, scaly rhizomes. Old World Bluestem has been found in nearly every county in Kansas.īig bluestem is a native, perennial, warm-season grass. Two introduced species referred to as Old World Bluestems are Caucasian bluestem and yellow bluestem ( Bothriochloa ischaemum (L.) Keng]. Broomsedge bluestem is found primarily in eastern Kansas. Another species found throughout Kansas is silver bluestem. A less widely distributed species is splitbeard bluestem found in a few counties in southeast Kansas. Sand bluestem is found on sandy soils in Kansas. Two of our native bluestems, big bluestem and little bluestem occur throughout Kansas and are important constituents in the mid- and tallgrass prairies of central and eastern Kansas. There are several species in Kansas referred to as “bluestems”. Prev Issue 758 July 19th, 2019 Next Learn about the bluestems species in Kansas