Little Bluestem
Little bluestem turns an ordinary-looking summer bunchgrass into one of the prairie’s most luminous copper winter plants.
Artwork inspired by Blackbear Bosin
Each clump sends roots deep into the soil and leaves space between neighboring bunches for wildflowers and ground-nesting animals. Bluish stem bases inspire the name, but autumn’s red-orange color and silvery seed hairs are often easier to recognize.
Do not identify a grass from color alone: confirm the narrow folded leaves, flattened lower shoots, and fuzzy paired spikelets. Visit an unplowed prairie late in the day when backlighting catches the seed tufts. Copper color September–February.
- Best clue
- Fine upright bunchgrass turning copper-red with fluffy silver seed tufts
- Habitat
- dry prairie, rocky slopes, glades, and open grassland
- Regional status
- Native warm-season bunchgrass; Kansas state grass
Quick guide
- Primary field mark
- Bluish stem bases
- Independent mark
- Upright bunch form
A field check for Little Bluestem
- Take the full view
- Begin with fine upright bunchgrass turning copper-red with fluffy silver seed tufts.
- Find corroboration
- Look for the second decision rests on copper winter color.
- Match place and season
- Dry prairie, rocky slopes, glades, and open grassland; copper color September–February.
- Protect the observation
- Use several angles on Little Bluestem without picking, bending, or clearing the plants around it.
Good to know
Little bluestem grows in bunches rather than a continuous sod, leaving valuable spaces between clumps for wildflowers and ground-nesting animals.
Notice these
- Bluish stem bases
- Copper winter color
- Silvery seed hairs
- Upright bunch form