What's That? Big bluestem

As you check out the scenery while driving down the road, you see a field of gold or maybe purple. What’s that?

Every week this summer we’ve spotlighted a roadside plant that’s grabbed your attention. Now, you’ll want to catch those glorious grasses.

Today: Big bluestem grass (Turkey Feet, Beard Grass, Red Hay) (Andropogon geraldii)

Bloom time: Late summer

Where it thrives: You see it growing in dry soils, prairies, open ground and open woods. It prefers sandy, well-drained soils. A sun-loving plant, it can grow in dry or moist soil.

Native: Yes.

Appearance: A perennial warm-season grass, it has a flowering stalk from 3 to 6 feet tall, and the plant can get to be 9 feet tall. Flowering stems rise above the foliage clump bearing purplish, three-parted, finger-like flower clusters (to 4 inches long). The grass turns bronze in the fall, and after frost, the color goes to light reddish purple with a head resembling the foot of a bird, hence the common name Turkey Foot.

Trivia: It provides good quality livestock forage. The root system can reach 12 feet, which makes the plant extremely drought tolerant.

— By Rhonda Stansberry

« Living

Share