''Bouteloua gracilis'', the blue grama, is a long-lived, warm-season ( C4)

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns a ...

, native to North America. It is most commonly found from

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada, east to

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

and south across the

Rocky Mountains The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...

, Great Plains, and U.S. Midwest states, onto the northern

Mexican Plateau The Central Mexican Plateau, also known as the Mexican Altiplano ( es, Altiplanicie Mexicana), is a large arid-to-semiarid plateau that occupies much of northern and central Mexico. Averaging above sea level, it extends from the United States b ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Blue grama accounts for most of the net

primary productivity In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through c ...

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 (culm (botany), culms) are long. At the top are one to four, usually two, comb-like spike (botany), 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 other long. The fertile floret has a lemma (botany), lemma (bract) long, with three short awn (botany), awns (bristles) at the tip, and the sterile floret has a lemma about long with three awns about long. If pollinated, the fertile floret produces an oblong-elliptic brown seed long. When the seed is mature, the whole spikelet detaches, except for the two glumes, which remain. The roots generally grow outwards, and deep. Blue grama is readily established from seed, but depends more on vegetative reproduction via tiller (botany), tillers. Seed production is slow, and depends on soil moisture and temperature. Seeds Biological dispersal, dispersed by wind only reach a few meters (6 ft); farther distances are reached with insects, birds, and mammals as dispersal agents. Germination, Seedling establishment, survival, and growth are greatest when isolated from neighboring adult plants, which effectively exploit water in the seedling's root zone. Successful establishment requires a modest amount of soil moisture during the extension and development of adventitious roots. Established plants are grazing-, cold-, and drought-tolerant, though prolonged drought leads to a reduction in root number and extent. They employ an opportunistic water-use strategy, rapidly using water when available, and becoming dormancy, dormant during less-favorable conditions. In terms of ecological succession, successional status, blue grama is a late sere (ecology), seral to climax species. Recovery following Disturbance (ecology), disturbance is slow and depends on the type and extent of the disturbance.

Distribution

Blue grama has the widest distribution of all grama grasses. It will grow on most soil types, and readily adapts to local conditions. It can be found as far north as

, and as far south as Mexico. It is present in most of the Midwestern United States, extending east to Missouri and Texas, and as far west as Southern California. It has been Invasive species, introduced to some eastern states, as well as South America.

Horticulture and agriculture

Blue grama is valued as Fodder, forage, and is the most valuable grama. It is an ideal range grass in the southwest. It will survive heavy grazing and extreme drought, and is quite palatable to livestock. Grazing of blue grama rangelands might also prevent invasion of undesirable weedy plants. Blue grama is grown by the horticulture industry, and used in perennial gardens, naturalistic and native plant landscaping, habitat Ecological restoration, restoration projects, and residential, civic, and highway erosion control. Blue grama flowers are also used in dried flower arrangements. Blue grama is the state grass of Colorado and New Mexico. It is listed as an endangered species in Illinois. Blue grama has a large genome relative to other grama grasses. It can be Ploidy, diploid or Polyploidy, tetraploid. Among the Zuni people, the grass bunches are tied together and the severed end is used as a hairbrush, the other as a broom. Bunches are also used to strain goat's milk. The Costanoan, or Ohlone, use(d) the hollow stems as drinking straws. The Navajo use(d) it as sheep and horse feed.

Ecology

Blue grama is the dominant species of the US Shortgrass prairie, shortgrass steppe ecoregion. Populations of blue grama across the great plains are genetically differentiated (even at small spatial scales) and show Phenotypic trait, functional trait variance connected to climate. Blue grama from more arid grasslands are also characterized by greater phenotypic plasticity. It is a larval host to the Garita skipperling, hesperia viridis, green skipper, Pahaska skipper, Rhesus skipper, Simius roadside skipper, and the Uncas skipper.The Xerces Society (2016), ''Gardening for Butterflies: How You Can Attract and Protect Beautiful, Beneficial Insects'', Timber Press.

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2922605 Bouteloua, gracilis Grasses of North America Warm-season grasses of North America Native grasses of the Great Plains region Grasses of Canada Grasses of Mexico Grasses of the United States Native grasses of California Native grasses of Nebraska Native grasses of Oklahoma Native grasses of Texas Flora of Mexico Flora of the Western United States Flora of the United States Flora of the South-Central United States Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Canadian Prairies Flora of the Chihuahuan Desert Flora of the Great Basin Flora of the Great Lakes region (North America) Flora of the Mexican Plateau Natural history of the Mojave Desert Plants described in 1816 Symbols of Colorado Symbols of New Mexico Garden plants of North America Drought-tolerant plants Flora without expected TNC conservation status