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Big Bluestem
 
 
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Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) is a tall grass
Grass

Grass is the common word that generally describes monocotyledonous green plants. The family Poaceae are the "true grasses" and include most plants grown as grains, for pasture, and for lawns ....
 native to much of the prairie
Prairie

Prairie refers to temperate grasslands of North America. These are areas of low topographic relief that historically supported grasses and herbs, with few or no trees, having a generally mesic habitat climate....
 and Great Plains
Great Plains

The Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada....
 regions of North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
.

bluestem is tolerant of a wide range of soils and moisture. Depending on soil and moisture conditions, it grows to a height of 1 – 3m (3 – 10 ft). Big Bluestem is a perennial grass. The stem base turns to a blue-purple as it matures.






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Big Bluestem (Andropogon gerardii) is a tall grass
Grass

Grass is the common word that generally describes monocotyledonous green plants. The family Poaceae are the "true grasses" and include most plants grown as grains, for pasture, and for lawns ....
 native to much of the prairie
Prairie

Prairie refers to temperate grasslands of North America. These are areas of low topographic relief that historically supported grasses and herbs, with few or no trees, having a generally mesic habitat climate....
 and Great Plains
Great Plains

The Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada....
 regions of North America
North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
.

Description

Big bluestem is tolerant of a wide range of soils and moisture. Depending on soil and moisture conditions, it grows to a height of 1 – 3m (3 – 10 ft). Big Bluestem is a perennial grass. The stem base turns to a blue-purple as it matures. The seed heads have three spike-like projections, resulting in another common name for big bluestem — "turkey foot." The root
Root

In vascular plants, the root is the organ of a plant body that typically lies below the surface of the soil. This is not always the case, however, since a root can also be aerial root or aerating ....
s are deep, and the plants send out strong, tough rhizome
Rhizome

In botany, a rhizome is a characteristically horizontal plant stem of a plant that is usually found underground, often sending out roots and shoots from its nodes....
s, so it forms very strong sod
Sod

Sod or turf is grass and the part of the soil beneath it held together by the roots, or a piece of this material.The term sod may be used to mean turf grown and cut specifically for the establishment of lawns....
. Big bluestem is also called tallgrass or simply called prairie tallgrass.

Ecology

Big bluestem is a late-successional
Ecological succession

Ecological succession, a fundamental concept in ecology, refers to more-or-less predictable and orderly changes in the composition or structure of an ecological Community ....
 grass in prairie ecosystems. It grows in tall, dense stands that shade out other plant species. These stands tend to gradually increase in size over time, unless a disturbance (such as fire
Fire

Fire is the oxidation of a combustion material releasing heat, light, and various Chemical reaction products such as carbon dioxide and water....
) allows other plant species to re-establish themselves.

Uses

Bluestem, which has many variants, is considered to be good forage
Fodder

In agriculture, fodder or animal feed is any foodstuff that is used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs....
 for horses and cattle
Cattle

Cattle, colloquially referred to as cows, are domestication ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. They are raised as livestock for meat , dairy products , leather and as draft animals ....
, and can also be cut and used for hay
Hay

Hay is a generic term for Poaceae or legumes that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing animals like cattle, horses, domestic goat, and sheep....
. It has a high protein level. While not considered the highest quality native forage found in the United States, it has long been considered a desirable and ecologically important grass by cattle ranchers and range-land ecologists. Bluestem grass is also used by landscapers and home owners who want to create a 'native' look in their lawns and gardens.

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