Forage Identification: Buffalograss

Department of Plant Sciences

Buffalograss  (Bochloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm.)

Adaptation:
Warm season, native, perennial grass. Adapted to dry, medium to heavy upland soils. Tolerates drought and alkaline soils. Heat and cold resistant.

 

Buffalograss

Growth Habitat:
Sod forming grass that spreads by stolons that produce fine, erect, smooth stems at nodes.

Buffalograss

Plant Characteristics:
Leaf blades are narrow, relatively short and curled. Sheaths are smooth with a few marginal hairs at the collar. The ligule is membranous and has a fringe of hairs. The panicle of male plants has  1 to 4 spikelike branches and 6 to 12 spikelets per branch. Female plants have bur-like clusters located near the middle of the stem. Develop dense mat of fine fibrous roots.

 

Seed Characteristics:
K

 

Important Identifying Characteristics: 
Grass that spreads by stolons. Male and female flowers produced on separate plants. Leaf blades are gray-green, rather short and narrow.

 

Primary Uses:
Pasture, soil conservation and low maintenance turf in drier areas of US.

 
 
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