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.[1]

Bouteloua dactyloides, commonly known as Buffalograss or Buffalo Grass in North America, 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.[2]

"Buffalo grass" in North America is not the same species of grass commonly known as 'buffalo' in Australia. It should not be confused with Stenotaphrum secundatum varieties such as Sir Walter or Palmetto.

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.[2]

Range

Buffalograss is distributed from central Montana east to Minnesota and south to eastern coastal Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, eastern Arizona, southern California, and northern Mexico. It is incidental in northern Idaho and Virginia.[2] In Canada, it is found only in the Blind and Souris River valleys of southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan, where it is considered very rare.[3]

In Australia this species of grass is not called 'buffalo' but referred to as 'prairie grass'.

Taxonomy

This species was initially placed by Thomas Nuttall in the genus Sesleria.[1] It was later moved to the monotypic genus Buchloe.[4] In 1999, James Travis Columbus moved Buffalograss to Bouteloua, which also contains the grama grasses.[1]

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.[5] In addition, researchers at the University of California Riverside and University of California Davis have hybridized a buffalograss cultivar, UC Verde,[6] creating a thick, green, drought-tolerant lawn for California's hot, dry summers.

Building

Settlers used its dense sod to build sod houses.[7]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bouteloua.
Wikispecies has information related to: Bouteloua dactyloides
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) Columbus". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2007-11-20. Retrieved 2010-03-05.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Howard, Janet L. (1995). "Buchloe dactyloides". Fire Effects Information System. United States Forest Service. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
  3. ↑ http://www.gov.mb.ca/conservation/wildlife/sar/pdf/buffalograss.pdf
  4. ↑ Quattrocchi, Umberto (2006). CRC World Dictionary of Grasses. II E-O. CRC Press. p. 395. ISBN 978-0-8493-1303-5.
  5. ↑ "Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) J.T. Columbus". Native Plant Information Network. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center. Retrieved 2010-07-31.
  6. ↑ "UC Verde Buffalograss". University of California, Davis.
  7. ↑ Riordan, T.P.; S.J. Browning (2003). "Buffalograss, Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm". In Michael D. Casler; Ronny R. Duncan. Turfgrass Biology, Genetics, and Breeding. John Wiley and Sons. p. 257. ISBN 978-0-471-44410-7.

Public Domain 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