Silver Bluestem – Plant

LATIN NAME
Bothriochloa laguroides (synonym: Bothriochloa saccharoides)

LONGEVITY
Perennial

SEASON
Warm

ORIGIN
Native

DETAILS:

• Sometimes considered a weedy type perennial.
• Leaves tapering to a fine point, has adapted to a variety of habitats. Seedheads are conspicuously hairy. Nodes of this bluestem are not hairy.
• Plant stems grow at alternating angles from each node giving the appearance of a “zig-zag” stem from the base to the end node.
• Ligule is membranous with two spurs on the ends.
• Livestock will graze this plant for a few weeks in the spring, but little after the seedheads develop.
• Will increase on sites that are grazed heavy continuously.
• Is considered an invader on sites in poor condition.
• Adapted to all of Texas, but grows best on loamy soils underlain by limestone. Grows well on clays and clay loams.
• Does not grow well on moist sites.

QUALITY TRAITS