Little Bluestem
Latin Name- Schizachyrium Scoparium
Plant family- Poaceae or grass family
The other names for Little Bluestem are broom beardgrass, wiregrass, and bunchgrass.
Habitat- Widely distributed is a native grass in North America. It will grow on a varieties of soils but is well adapted to medium to dry soils. It has excellent drought and fair shade tolerance but poor flood tolerance.
Warm season Little Bluestem will grow to about two to four feet tall with coarse stems and basil leaves, the leaves are smooth but covered with hair at the base.
Bloom Period- Aug.to Feb.
Characteristics- usually grows 2-3 feet (0.61-1.2 meters) roots grow to about 5 feet (2.7meters). Flowers are a purplish bronze color in August to February
Threats- Domestic and wild animals prefer to eat little bluestem when the plant is young and green
Interesting Facts- The scientific name "scoparius" comes from a greek word meaning broom-like, referring to the stiffly bunched stems. Since Little Bluestem is moderately aggressive, it should be included in all prairie plantings. Their's other plants like it as Big Bluestem, Sideoats Grama, Prairie Dropseed, Blue Grama. The Little Bluestem is in every county in Kansas. Small birds like to feed off the white fuzzy seeds.
Habitat-Little bluestem is located in places like woodlands, Hillsides, Slopes, Meadows ,and pastures.
Seed- very small, about two millimeters
http://www.wildflower.org/gallery/result.php?id_image=28095
Seedling- is about two inches tall
http://grownative.org/native-plant-info/seedling-identification/little-bluestem/
Juvenile- is about four inches tall
Roots- is about four to six feet deep
Leaves- thin
http://www.jeinc.com/little-bluestem
Flowering Plant- in warm season it will grow two to four feet tall
http://www.jeinc.com/little-bluestem
Bibliography- Wildflowers of the Tallgrass Prairie page 251
jenic.com
prairiemoon.com
plants.usda.gov
illinoiswildflowers.info
grownative.org
planoprairiegarden.com
Iowa's Living Roadway page 53 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFUkNHueCiY
Disclaimer-The infomation in the Prairie Plant Guide was collected and compossed by the 5th graders,we apologize for any inaccuracise.
Bibliography-Info comes from these sits Seedling evaluation guide.org, Wildflower.org
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Comments (16)
emewert said
at 7:24 am on Jan 17, 2014
What other pictures do you want to do? Do you want to put the different stages of the life?
jd said
at 8:59 am on Jan 17, 2014
I think that is a great idea.
Wclark said
at 9:46 am on Jan 17, 2014
i went to a different site and read the bloom period is august to feburary
emewert said
at 7:29 am on Jan 22, 2014
@wclark I will change that
Abrummond said
at 9:41 am on Jan 22, 2014
i did that
emewert said
at 7:46 am on Jan 22, 2014
We need to find more pictures. What kind of pics do you want the different stages of growing up?
jd said
at 8:40 am on Jan 22, 2014
the seedling and juvenile.
Abrummond said
at 9:22 am on Jan 22, 2014
how about the seed
jd said
at 9:04 am on Jan 22, 2014
Should we put in the habitat
emewert said
at 7:46 am on Jan 29, 2014
when i try to put pictures in it wont work will one of you try
jd said
at 9:02 am on Jan 30, 2014
should we put in info after every pic.
Wclark said
at 9:42 am on Jan 30, 2014
are we almost done
Wclark said
at 9:45 am on Jan 30, 2014
should we add a video
Wclark said
at 9:54 am on Jan 30, 2014
we done
?
Bjordan said
at 10:04 am on Jan 30, 2014
great job
Abrummond said
at 9:57 am on Feb 11, 2014
thanks
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