| |
Feature: Blowout Grass
Blowout grass
growing on a sand dune
Photo courtesy: NPS.gov
CLICK TO ENLARGE |
During our latest State Conservationists’ Advisory Committee Meeting held at
the PMC, a discussion centered on plant species collection. It was noted by Joel
Douglas, Central Region PMS, that other centers in the Central Region had begun
the collection and screening of secondary species. That is, these centers had
begun working with lesser-known species of grass other than big bluestem, Indian
grass, and switchgrass. They were working with minor species that are not
considered the dominant prairie species. Many of the dominant grass species have
several named varieties currently in the commercial market. The thought was that
we should begin looking at grass species that were more specialty and unique-use
species. That reinforced the thought that we had about collecting Redfieldia
flexuosa or blowout grass as it is commonly called. This minor species is
definitely a plant that has a defined area of use and adaptation. This
wind-erosion control plant and used to protect sandy soil types from blowing,
thus the common name, blowout grass. This native species can be found growing
throughout the Great Plains from South Dakota to Oklahoma and into the Texas
panhandle. John Weaver, Nebraska Prairie Ecologist, studied this species in the 1920s
and found that it produced roots to depths of 5-to-7 feet. It has tough, wiry,
many branched rhizomes, sometimes 20-to 40-feet in length, extended in all
directions from the plant. It is an ideal pioneer species that will provide
stability in highly erosive situations.
Article written by Rich Wynia, Plant
Materials Center Manager Manhattan Plant Materials Center, Manhattan, Kansas,
Plants for the Heartland, Vol. 15, Issue 4
< Back to Features
< Back to Plant Materials Home | | |