Buchloe dactyloides (Buffalo Grass)

Plant Info
Also known as:
Genus:Buchloe
Family:Poaceae (Grass)
Life cycle:perennial
Origin:native
Status:
  • State Special Concern
Habitat:sun; dry; prairies, plains, rock outcrops
Fruiting season:July - September
Plant height:1 to 8 inches
Wetland Indicator Status:none
MN county distribution (click map to enlarge):Minnesota county distribution map
National distribution (click map to enlarge):National distribution map

Pick an image for a larger view. See the glossary for icon descriptions.

Detailed Information

Flower: Flower shape: indistinct Cluster type: raceme Cluster type: spike

[photo of flowering male clusters] Separate staminate (male) and pistillate (female) flowers usually on different plants (dioecious). Staminate flowers are the showier of the two, with a raceme-like cluster of 1 to 3 branches at the top of the stem, each branch ¼ to ½ inch long and short-stalked, the terminal branch erect to spreading, the lateral branches ascending to spreading. A branch has 6 to 12 spikelets (flower clusters), arranged on one side of the rachis (stalk), tightly packed in 2 rows. Spikelets are light green, 4 to 5.5 mm long, each with 2 florets.

[close-up of male spike]  At the base of a staminate spikelet is a pair of bracts (glumes) that are whitish to light green, narrowly egg-shaped with 1 to 3 green veins, minutely hairy along the keel, the lower glume smaller than the upper. Surrounding a floret is pair of bracts (lemma and palea), the lemma longer than the glumes and 3-veined. Florets have large, bright red-orange stamens.

[photo of female cluster] Pistillate spikes are less conspicuous, mostly hidden by the leaves. A pair of spikes is tightly clustered at the tip of the stem and subtended by a broad, scale-like, awn-tipped bract. Each spike has 3 to 5 spikelets, each spikelet with a single floret. The lower glume is obscure or absent, the upper is light green, 3 to 4 mm long with 3 or 4 narrow, darker green, finger-like lobes more or less as long as the glume body. The lemma is 2.5 to 3.5 mm long, 3-lobed like the glume, and is slightly longer than the palea. The lemma and palea are mostly hidden by the glume. Florets have purple, feathery styles.

Leaves and stems: Leaf attachment: alternate Leaf attachment: basal Leaf type: simple

[photo of lower and upper sheaths] Leaves are basal and alternate, ¾ to 5 inches long, 1 to 2.5 mm wide, flat, variously covered in long, white, spreading hairs, more densely on the lower plant and more sparsely to nearly hairless above. Sheaths are similarly hairy on the lower stem and mostly hairless above, and may have a denser band of hairs around the base of the blade. The ligule (membrane where the leaf joins the sheath) is a fringe of white hairs up to .5 mm long. Nodes are smooth.

[photo of stolons with new shoots] Stems are mostly erect, unbranched or branched from the base, hairless, forming loose to dense clumps, and usually forming mats from horizontal stems (stolons), with vegetative shoots emerging at regular intervals.

Fruit: Fruit type: seed without plume

[photo of a pair of mature pistillate spikes] Pistillate spikelets mature to creamy white to light brown, the glume and lemma forming a hardened shell. The entire spike drops off at maturity. The grains (seeds) are oblong-elliptic and brown, 2 to 2.5 mm long. Staminate spikelets dry light brown and drop off individually, leaving the glumes behind.

Notes:

Buffalo Grass is one of the few dioecious grasses, though occasionally a plant will have both male and female flowers. A common grass of the Great Plains, its natural habitat in Minnesota is limited to a few rock outcrops in our southwest counties, but it is widely available as an alternative to turf grass so has been planted in many other areas around the state. According to the DNR, it was listed as a state Special Concern species in 1984 due to its limited natural habitat, which is at risk from bedrock mining and from over-grazing, where livestock damage the thin soils around the outcrops. It is not likely to be confused with any other grass. The female plants are quite inconspicuous, the stem only 1 to a few inches tall and usually obscured by the leaves. Males are easier to spot and may reach 8 inches tall, though 4 or 5 inches is common, even less in areas that are subject to mowing.

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More photos

Photos by K. Chayka taken at plantings in Hennepin and Ramsey counties. Photos courtesy Peter M. Dziuk taken at Blue Mounds State Park, Rock County, and in Hennepin and Ramsey counties.

Comments

Have you seen this plant in Minnesota, or have any other comments about it?

Posted by: Marilyn - Linwood Twp in Anoka cty
on: 2019-08-06 11:11:56

Think that we have buffalo grass growing in our yard. Can't see well enough to tell from the photos online if what we have growing is the same or not. Shallow root system and it grows in a clump like formation with little yellow like flowers in the middle of the clump. We didn't plant it, it just sort of showed up last year and again now. the grass is thin and has a definate fold in the center, but the stuff growing in our yard seems to be almost 12 inches tall or more, Can you tell from this if what we have growing is indeed buffalo grass. Thank you.

Posted by: K. Chayka
on: 2019-08-06 11:41:40

Marilyn, it is pretty unlikely that buffalo grass would volunteer in a metro-area residential lawn, and your description doesn't really sound like it. You might post some images on the Minnesota Wildflowers Facebook page for more help with an ID.

Posted by: Patty - Richfield
on: 2023-09-07 11:38:24

Will the seeds from Buffalo Grass jump from one desired location into area lawn and gardens?

Posted by: K Chayka
on: 2023-09-07 12:12:03

Patty, the seeds may travel some, but this spreads much more by runners (stolons). I have buffalo grass in a boulevard planting and the stolons have not traveled across the sidewalk to the lawn, but some seed has in one particular area. I don't mind, though, since I'm all in favor of reducing turf grass.

Posted by: Paula Thomsen - Savage
on: 2024-09-16 10:20:01

I have a clump of buffalo grass that is about 7 inches in diameter. Can I split it? I would like to have more of it.

Posted by: K Chayka
on: 2024-09-16 13:52:29

Paul, buffalo grass should send out runners and spread on its own quite well without any effort on your part.

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