Feature: Blowout Grass

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

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