Sideoats grama, Bouteloua curtipendula (Michx.) Torr., Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Grasses of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Height	Prime Season
	Sideoats Grama	Bouteloua curtipendula (Michx.) Torr.	Poaceae (Grasses)	Dry Woods	1 to 3.5'	July to September
	Native Status	Sideoats Grama is a native plant, found all but six of the lower 48 states and also in the lower Canadian Provinces. It is considered threatened or endangered in six states, Michigan being the closest to Minnesota. In Minnesota it occurs throughout the state except in the NE quadrant. Sideoats Grama is not indigenous to the Garden site. It was introduced to the Garden by Eloise Butler on Aug. 27, 1912 with plants she obtained in Columbia Heights, MN.
Notes	Sideoats Grama is a perennial of dry woods and prairies. It is a cool-season grass that grows from scaly rhizomes. It is the largest and most coarse of the grama grasses. The color is bluish green, with a purplish cast in the spring, maturing to a reddish-brown or straw color in the fall. Leaf blades are coarse, straight and mostly basal and with very distinct veins. The leaf sheath is round, split, with hair and often purplish at the base. The ligule also has fine hair. Ten to thirty short flower clusters hang mainly from one side of the stem and drop off at maturity leaving a zig-zag stem. The flowers are often red when the stamens are shedding pollen. It does not tolerate shading by taller grasses. It is an important range grass as it begins growth early in the spring and while the leaves will curl in the heat of summer and become a whitish-brown, it has another period of green growth in the fall and grows up to an altitude of 7,000 feet. It works as a home ornamental grass as it is hardy up into USDA Zone 2b and is tolerant of dry and hot locations.


Above: Note the tall panicle held well above the leaves.	Above: Stems and leaves are upright. Toward maturity the panicle will bend over.	Above: Note the reddish color on the stamens as the pollen is shed.
Below: The blade veins are prominent	Below center and right: The leaf collar is often yellowish green to brown with a few hair at the throat.

Below: Individual branches off the panicle can have from 2 to 7 spikelets.	Below: Leaves are evenly distributed on the stem and can have hairs at the outside edges. The collar can also have hair at the throat.

Above: Each branch of the panicle can have 3 to 9 crowded spikelets. Below: At maturity the heavy panicles bend over into a horizontal position.

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 28c, W2, W3, W5 & W6. Distribution principally from W2 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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Sideoats Grama