Bouteloua dactyloides

Bouteloua dactyloides
Turf-type buffalograss
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Genus:	Bouteloua
Species:	B. dactyloides
Binomial name
Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) Columbus
Synonyms
Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm. Bulbilis dactyloides (Nutt.) Raf. ex Kuntze Sesleria dactyloides Nutt.

Bouteloua dactyloides, commonly known as Buffalograss or Buffalo Grass, is a prairie grass native to North America. It is a shortgrass found mainly on the high plains and is co-dominant with blue grama (B. gracilis) over most of the shortgrass prairie.

Description

Buffalograss is a warm-season perennial shortgrass. It is drought-, heat-, and cold-resistant. Foliage is usually 5–13 cm (2.0–5.1 in) high, though in the southern Great Plains foliage may reach 30 cm (12 in). Buffalograss is usually dioecious. Plants are occasionally monoecious, sometimes with perfect flowers. Flower stalks are 10–20 cm (3.9–7.9 in) tall. The male inflorescence is a panicle; the female inflorescence consists of short spikelets borne in burlike clusters, usually with two to four spikelets per bur.

Buffalograss sends out numerous, branching stolons; occasionally it also produces rhizomes. Roots are also numerous and thoroughly occupy the soil. The numerous stolons and roots form a dense sod. Buffalograss roots are finer than those of most plains grasses, being less than 1 mm (0.039 in) in diameter.

Range

Buffalograss is distributed from central Montana east to Minnesota and south to eastern coastal Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, eastern Arizona, and northern Mexico. It is incidental in northern Idaho and Virginia.

Taxonomy

This species was initially placed by Thomas Nuttall in the genus Sesleria. It was later moved to the monotypic genus Buchloe. In 1999, James Travis Columbus moved Buffalograss to Bouteloua, which also contains the grama grasses.

Uses

Gardens

Buffalograss is used as a drought-tolerant turfgrass in North America and is also grown for forage. Turfgrass cultivars include 609, Prairie, Stampede and Density, while Comanche and Texoka are intended for forage.

Building

Settlers used its dense sod to build sod houses.

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

External links

• Turf-Type Buchloe dactyloides at Native Turf Group (non-profit)
• USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service