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Pawnee Buttes
The Pawnee Buttes are two prominent buttes in northeastern Colorado. The west butte is located within the Pawnee National Grassland, while the east butte is on private land in Weld County. Rising approximately above the surrounding plains, the buttes are erosional remnants left standing in isolation as the surrounding High Plains surface has gradually worn away. The lower portions of the buttes are composed of relatively soft, clay-rich sedimentary rock called the Brule formation. The Brule formation is protected by an overlying layer of sandstone and conglomerate sediments called the Arikaree formation, which are more resistant to weathering. Geology The buttes are in the northeastern edge of the Colorado Piedmont. To the north, the piedmont is bordered by the Chalk Bluffs, an escarpment on the edge of the High Plains. As the rains and snows slowly erode the bluffs, the piedmont grows towards the north. Stream capture expands the piedmont rapidly towards the upslope or westw ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keota, Colorado
Keota is a mostly abandoned town located on the prairie in the Pawnee National Grasslands in Weld County in the U.S. state of Colorado. Keota's elevation is . Keota is located approximately 50 miles east of Greeley on County Road 103. Pawnee Buttes, a pair of prominent sandstone escarpments, which are significant nesting areas for hawks, falcons, and eagles, is located nearby. History Keota was established as a homestead in 1880 by two sisters, Mary and Eva Beardsley, and sold to the Lincoln Land and Cattle Co. in 1888. Keota was a station stop on the "Old Prairie Dog Express" of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad. The railroad was abandoned in 1970, and the track was removed by 1982. The railroad was mainly used for cattle shipping from Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Their Cheyenne language belongs to the Algonquian language family. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blue Grama
''Bouteloua gracilis'', the blue grama, is a long-lived, warm-season ( C4) perennial grass, native to North America. It is most commonly found from Alberta, Canada, east to Manitoba and south across the Rocky Mountains, Great Plains, and U.S. Midwest states, onto the northern Mexican Plateau in Mexico. Blue grama accounts for most of the net primary productivity in the shortgrass prairie of the central and southern Great Plains. It is a green or greyish, low-growing, drought-tolerant grass with limited maintenance. Description Blue grama has green to greyish leaves less than wide and long. The overall height of the plant is at maturity. The flowering stems ( culms) are long. At the top are one to four, usually two, comb-like spikes, which extend out at a sharp angle from the flowering stem. Each spike has 20 to 90 spikelets. Each spikelet is long, and has one fertile floret and one or two reduced sterile ones. Below the florets are two glumes, one long and the ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Schizachyrium Scoparium
''Schizachyrium scoparium'', commonly known as little bluestem or beard grass, is a species of North American prairie grass native to most of the contiguous United States (except California, Nevada, and Oregon) as well as a small area north of the Canada–United States border, Canada–US border and northern Mexico. It is most common in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern prairies and is one of the most abundant native plants in Texas grasslands. Little bluestem is a perennial bunchgrass and is prominent in tallgrass prairie, along with big bluestem (''Andropogon gerardi''), indiangrass (''Sorghastrum nutans'') and switchgrass (''Panicum virgatum''). It is a C4 carbon fixation, warm-season species, meaning it employs the C4 photosynthetic pathway. Description Little bluestem grows to become an upright, roundish mound of soft, bluish-green or grayish-green blades in May and June that is about two to three feet high. In July, it initiates flowering stalks, which reach four ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxytropis
''Oxytropis'' is a genus of plants in the legume family. It is one of three genera of plants known as locoweeds, and are notorious for being toxic to grazing animals. The other locoweed genus is the closely related ''Astragalus''. There are about 600 species, native to Eurasia and North America. Several species are native to the Arctic. These are hairy perennial plants which produce raceme inflorescences of pink, purple, white, or yellow flowers which are generally pea-like but have distinctive sharply beaked keels. The stems are leafless, the leaves being all basal. The plant produces legume pods containing the seeds. Selected species *'' Oxytropis arctica'' – Arctic locoweed *'' Oxytropis bellii'' *'' Oxytropis borealis'' – boreal locoweed *''Oxytropis campestris'' – field locoweed *'' Oxytropis deflexa'' – nodding locoweed *'' Oxytropis halleri'' – purple oxytropis *''Oxytropis jacquinii'' *'' Oxytropis kobukensis'' – Kobuk locoweed *'' Oxytropis lambertii'' – ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Astragalus
''Astragalus'' is a large genus of over 3,000 species of herbs and small shrubs, belonging to the legume family Fabaceae and the subfamily Faboideae. It is the largest genus of plants in terms of described species. The genus is native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Common names include milkvetch (most species), locoweed (in North America, some species) and goat's-thorn ( ''A. gummifer'', ''A. tragacantha''). Some pale-flowered vetches (''Vicia'' spp.) are similar in appearance, but they are more vine-like than ''Astragalus''. Description Most species in the genus have pinnately compound leaves. There are annual and perennial species. The flowers are formed in clusters in a raceme, each flower typical of the legume family, with three types of petals: banner, wings, and keel. The calyx is tubular or bell-shaped. Ecology ''Astragalus'' species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including many case-bearing moths of the genus ''Col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forbs
A forb or phorb is an herbaceous flowering plant that is not a graminoid (grass, sedge, or rush). The term is used in biology and in vegetation ecology, especially in relation to grasslands and understory. Typically these are dicots without woody stems. Etymology The word "forb" is derived from Greek ''phorbḗ'' (), meaning "pasture" or "fodder". The Hellenic spelling "phorb" is sometimes used, and in older usage this sometimes includes graminids and other plants currently not regarded as forbs. Guilds Forbs are members of a guilda group of plant species with broadly similar growth form. In certain contexts in ecology, guild membership may often be more important than the taxonomic relationships between organisms. In informal classification In addition to its use in ecology, the term "forb" may be used for subdividing popular guides to wildflowers, distinguishing them from other categories such as grasses, sedges, shrubs, and trees. Some examples of forbs are clovers, sun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Artemisia Frigida
''Artemisia frigida'' is a widespread species of flowering plant in the aster family, which is known as the sunflower family. It is native to Europe, Asia, and much of North America. In parts of the north-central and northeastern United States it is an introduced species. Etymology Common names include fringed sagebrush, prairie sagewort, arctic sage and pasture sage. The plant is not, however, closely related to the true sages ''Salvia''. Description ''Artemisia frigida'' is a perennial plant but with a woody base. The stems spread out, generally forming a mat or clump up to tall. The stems are covered in lobed gray-green leaves which are coated in silvery hairs. The inflorescence contains many spherical flower heads each about half a centimeter wide and lined with woolly-haired, gray-green or brownish phyllaries. The flower heads contain several pistillate ray florets and many bisexual disc florets. The plant is aromatic, with a strong scent. This plant can make a great ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gutierrezia Sarothrae
''Gutierrezia sarothrae'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common names broom snakeweed, broomweed, snakeweed, and matchweed. It is a subshrub native to much of the western half of North America, from western Canada to northern Mexico, and can be found in a number of arid, grassland, and mountain habitats. It can be toxic to livestock in large quantities, due mainly to the presence of saponins. The species was utilized by various Native American groups for medicinal and other purposes. Description ''Gutierrezia sarothrae'' is a perennial subshrub that ranges from in height. The stems are green to brown, bushy, and herbaceous, and branch upwards from a woody base. The stems die back during dormancy, giving the plant its broom-like appearance. They range from smooth to having some short hairs, and may be resinous and therefore sticky when touched. As the stems are about the same length, this causes the plant to often appear domed or fan-shaped ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Koeleria
''Koeleria'' is a common and widespread genus of plants in the grass family, found on all continents except Antarctica and on various oceanic islands. It includes species known generally as Junegrasses. The genus was named after German botanist Georg Ludwig Koeler (1765–1807). ;Species *'' Koeleria altaica'' – Siberia, China, Kazakhstan, Mongolia *''Koeleria argentea'' – China, Mongolia, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Himalayas *''Koeleria asiatica'' – Russia, China incl Tibet, Mongolia, Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territories *''Koeleria askoldensis'' – Primorye region of Russia incl Askold Island *'' Koeleria besseri'' – Europe from the Czech Republic to central European Russia *''Koeleria biebersteinii'' – Crimea *''Koeleria boliviensis'' – Bolivia *''Koeleria brevis'' – Ukraine, Russia, Caucasus, Turkey *'' Koeleria calderonii'' – Argentina ( Mendoza) *''Koeleria capensis'' – Yemen, Africa from Ethiopia + Cameroon to Cape Province *''Koeleria carol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hesperostipa Comata
''Hesperostipa comata'', commonly known as needle-and-thread grass, is a species of grass native to North America, especially the western third. It has a wide distribution spanning from northern Canada to Mexico. Description ''Hesperostipa comata'' is a perennial bunchgrass producing erect, unbranched stems to about in maximum height. The narrow inflorescence is up to long in taller plants, with the mature spikelet bearing a spiraling, hairy, spear-shaped awn up to in length. The seeds of this grass have hygroscopic extensions that bend with changes in humidity, enabling them to disperse over the ground. Each seed has an awn that twists several turns when the seed is released. Increased moisture causes it to untwist, and, upon drying, to twist again, thus the seed is drilled into the ground. Habitat This is a grass of many habitat types, from grassland to pine forest. Young shoots provide a favored food source for black-tailed prairie dogs and black-tailed jackrabbits, and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Opuntia
''Opuntia'', commonly called prickly pear or pear cactus, is a genus of flowering plants in the cactus family Cactaceae. Prickly pears are also known as ''tuna'' (fruit), ''sabra'', ''nopal'' (paddle, plural ''nopales'') from the Nahuatl word for the pads, or nostle, from the Nahuatl word for the fruit; or paddle cactus. The genus is named for the Ancient Greek city of Opus, where, according to Theophrastus, an edible plant grew and could be propagated by rooting its leaves. The most common culinary species is the Indian fig opuntia (''O. ficus-indica''). Description ''O. ficus-indica'' is a large, trunk-forming, segmented cactus that may grow to with a crown of over in diameter and a trunk diameter of . Cladodes (large pads) are green to blue-green, bearing few spines up to or may be spineless. Prickly pears typically grow with flat, rounded cladodes (also called platyclades) containing large, smooth, fixed spines and small, hairlike prickles called glochids that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pascopyrum
''Pascopyrum'' is a monotypic genus of grass containing the sole species ''Pascopyrum smithii'', which is known by the common names western wheatgrass and red-joint wheatgrass, after the red coloration of the nodes. It is native to North America. Distribution This is a sod-forming rhizomatous perennial grass which is native and common throughout most of North America. It grows in grassland and prairie in the Great Plains, where it is sometimes the dominant grass species. It is the state grass of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming. Ecology It is a valuable forage for animals such as bison and black-tailed prairie dogs, and it is good for grazing livestock. It is used for revegetation of disturbed and overgrazed habitat, and many cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue cu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
