Sand Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii)

Origin: Native to North America
Use: Perennial, warm season, native grass that provides fair grazing for wildlife; good grazing for livestock.
Image: Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge Click to enlarge
Plant Description:
General  Characteristics of Sand Bluestem
Life Span  Perennial
Growth Form  tall, erect, bunchgrass
Management:
Seeding Rate 
40" Rows:  Broadcast: 


2.0 pounds pure live seed per acre
6.0 pounds pure live seed per acre
Planting Date  March-May
Planting Depth less than 0.25 inch
pH requirement 5.6 to 8.4
Rainfall requirement 10 to 32 inches
Soil texture
Sandy: 
Loam: 
Clay: 

High
Moderate
Low
Cold Tolerance: High
General  Provides fair grazing for wildlife; good grazing for livestock.
ID Features:
Habit: 		Tufted perennial resembling Andropogon gerardii but with elongated creeping rhizomes.
Culms: 		Robust, 1-2 m. tall, simple at the base, branched above, more or less glaucous, glabrous or nearly so.
Blades: 	Flat, 20-30 cm. long, 5-8 mm. wide, smooth beneath, slightly scabrous above, margins scabrous.
Sheaths: 	Shorter than the internodes, glabrous and glaucous.
Ligule:		Membranous, 3-4 mm. long, villous just back of ligule.
Inflorescence: 	Spikelike racemes, 2-5 on peduncles, in pairs, or approximate, 5-10 cm. long, the
		lateral ones often included in the sheaths, rachis internodes 4-5 mm. long, copiously villous,
		bearing in pairs a sessile fertile spikelet and a pedicelled staminate one, the pedicel copiously villous,
		the hairs grayish to pale golden.
Spikelets: 	Sessile spikelets about 1 cm. long, awned; pedicellate spikelet slightly larger, awnless.
Glumes: 	Of fertile spikelet subequal, glabrous at the base, pubescent towards the apex and on the margins.
Lemmas: 	Sterile lemma empty, hyaline, awnless, fertile lemma membranous or hyaline, shorter than the
		glumes, awnless or with an awn usually less than length of the spikelets.
Habitat: 	Sandy soil, prairies and plains, sandhills.  July-September.
Range: 		North Dakota and eastern Montana to Texas, Wyoming, Utah and Arizona; Iowa.
Use: 		Native grass on sandy plains.
Remarks: 	Intergrades with Andropogon gerardii.
Synonyms:	Andropogon gerardii Vitman var. incanescens (Hack.) Boivin
		Andropogon gerardii Vitman var. paucipilus (Nash) Fern.
		Andropogon hallii Hack. var. incanescens Hack.
Special Notes:
Sand Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) Information #1
Sand Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) Information #2
Sand Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) Information #3
 
Regional Adaptation
Variety
Coast Saline Prairie
Coast Prairie
East Texas Timberlands
Claypan Area
Blackland Prairie
East Cross Timbers
West Cross Timbers
Grand Prairie
North Central Prairies
Central Basin
Edwards Plateau
Northern Rio Grande Plain
Western Rio Grande Plain
Central Rio Grande Plain
Lower Rio Grande Valley
Rolling Plains
High Plains
Trans-Pecos
Sand
 
 
 
 
 
X
X
X
X
 
 
 
 
 
 
X
X
 
Woodward
 
 
 
 
 
X
X
X
X
 
 
 
 
 
 
X
X
 
Elida
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
X
X