Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Commelinids: Poales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (2/8/20):
Andropogon gerardi
FAMILY
Poaceae
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Learn more about Andropogon from the Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT)
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Andropogon gerardii
FAMILY
Poaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT)
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 029-87-002:
Andropogon gerardii
FAMILY
Poaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Grasses of the US (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950)
Andropogon gerardi
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933)
Andropogon provincialis
COMMON NAME:
Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950 pnd_ange_006_lvd
)
USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950 pnd_ange_009_lvd
)
JK Marlow jkm0506h_28
June Oconee County SC
Plant bluish-green, tufted, erect, often glaucous. Lf blades ~ 0.2-0.4" wide, per Wildflowers of Tennessee.
)
JK Marlow jkm160717_348
July Greenville County SC
Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve
Grass flowers usually w 2 lodicules, 3 stamens, ovary w 2 feathery stigmas, per How to Know the Grasses by R.W. Pohl.
)
JK Marlow jkm160717_350
July Greenville County SC
Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve
The once-endless tallgrass prairie with majestic big bluestem is past, per Book of Field and Roadside.
)
JK Marlow jkm0408k_26b
August Oconee County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm0408k_36
August Oconee County SC
Isolated stands exist today mainly along railroads, fencerows and roadsides, per Book of Field and Roadside.
)
Richard and Teresa Ware rtw_andropogon_gerardii_3
August
Racemes on long-exserted terminal peduncle mostly 3-6, fewer on branches, per Manual of the Grasses of the United States.
)
JK Marlow s050917_c
September Cabarrus County NC
Suther Prairie
Flowering raceme has 3 branches arising from a common point (the Turkeyfoot), per Wildflowers of Tennessee.
)
JK Marlow s050917_d
September Cabarrus County NC
Suther Prairie
Bristles (awns) that project from the flowers are sharply bent, per Book of Field and Roadside.
)
JK Marlow jkm111029_122
October Pickens County SC
)
JK Marlow jkm0311a_23
November Pickens County SC
Roadside
Purplish seedhead a narrow cluster of linear raceme resembling a turkeyfoot, per Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee.
WEAKLEY'S FLORA (2/8/20):
Andropogon gerardi
FAMILY
Poaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT)
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Andropogon gerardii
FAMILY
Poaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT)
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 029-87-002:
Andropogon gerardii
FAMILY
Poaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Grasses of the US (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950)
Andropogon gerardi
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933)
Andropogon provincialis
84
Grass, Sedge, or Rush
Perennial
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Documented growing wild in GA NC SC
Common
Look for it in a wide variety of habitats, usually rather dry, such as sandhills, glades, cliffs, and rock outcrops, in the Piedmont in woodlands, former prairie-like sites, woodlands, open forests, and river-scour grasslands, in the Mountains in glades, riverside scour areas, and rarely in grassy balds, ascending to at least 1600m over mafic rocks, per Weakley's Flora
Click here to see a more detailed map from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Herbarium,
or click here to see a map from SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
...Moist
...Dry
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal & alternate, 2-ranked
FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Raceme (2-5 per peduncle)
FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Grain purplish/Yellowish
Grain
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee p206
- Manual of the Grasses of the United States p757
- Wildflowers of Tennessee p347
- Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians p399
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region p094