About Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash
Indiangrass, scientifically known as Sorghastrum nutans (L.) Nash, is a warm-season perennial bunchgrass that cannot tolerate shade. It reaches a height of 3 to 7 feet (1 to 2 m), and can be identified by its characteristic "rifle-sight" ligule at the point where the leaf blade connects to the leaf sheath. Its leaves grow to around 3 feet (1 m) in length.
It blooms from late summer to early fall, producing branched clusters called panicles that hold spikelets. During the blooming period, these spikelets are golden-brown. Each spikelet contains one perfect floret with three large, noticeable yellow stamens and two feather-like stigmas. One of the two glumes at the base of the spikelet is covered in silky white hairs. The flowers are cross-pollinated by wind, and the branches of pollinated flower clusters bend outward. When seeds reach maturity, they fall to the ground, and there are approximately 175,000 seeds per pound.
In ecological communities, Sorghastrum nutans is a prominent species in the tallgrass prairie ecosystem, as well as the northern, central, and Flint Hills tall grassland ecoregions. It grows alongside other common prairie grasses: big bluestem (Andropogon gerardi), little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), and switchgrass (Panicum virgatum). It is also commonly found in longleaf pine areas. Indiangrass is adapted to grow across most of the United States, ranging from the southern border of the country north to Canada, and from the eastern seaboard west to Montana, Wyoming, and Utah. It regrows with renewed vigor after fires, so controlled burns are used for habitat renewal as a replacement for the extirpated large herbivores that once performed this role, namely bison. It acts as a larval host plant for the pepper-and-salt skipper.
