Yellow Bluestem - Bothriochloa ischaemum
Other Names:
King Ranch Bluestem, King Ranch Beardgrass,
Andropogon ischaemum
Bunchgrass. Stems 6–10 dm, leaf sheaths not keeled. Leaves: blades 1–3 mm wide; ligule 0.5–1.5 mm long with a fringe of hairs. Inflorescence with numerous (2 to 8) racemes or spikes, each about 3–7 cm long, terminating the main stem in an apparently digitate arrangement. Spikelets: rachis and pedicels silky hairy along margins; sessile spikelets 3–4.5 mm long, glumes purplish to greenish, acute. Lemmas: fertile lemma with an awn 9–17 mm long; pedicellate spikelet about as large as the sessile spikelet (Lavin in
Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).