Andropogon gerardi Vitman

• Authority

  Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

• Family

  Poaceae

• Scientific Name

  Andropogon gerardi Vitman

• Description

  Species Description - Robust, tufted, sometimes shortly rhizomatous perennial 1–3 m, sometimes sod-forming, often glaucous; blades usually 5–10 mm wide, the lower ones and the sheaths sometimes villous; racemes (2)3–4(–6), 5–10 cm, subdigitate, on a long-exserted peduncle; joints of the rachis and pedicels equal, subterete, sparsely or usually densely ciliate, densely bearded at the top; spikelets appressed, 7–10 mm, the glumes minutely scaberulous, often ciliate; awn of the fertile lemma 8–20 mm, twisted below and ± bent; pedicellate spikelet staminate, about as large as the sessile one; 2n=20, 40, 60, 80–86. Moist or dry, open places, a major constituent of the tall-grass prairie; Que. to Sask., s. to Fla. and Ariz. (A. furcatus; A. provincialis)

• Common Names

  big bluestem