Caucasian Bluestem, Old-World Bluestem

Bothriochloa bladhii (Retz.) S.T. Blake

Grass Family (Poaceae)

▲▼mature, flowering plants

▲▼mature, flowering plants

▲ inflorescence

▲leaf collar region and fringed ligule

Caucasian Bluestem, Old-World Bluestem: 

·         Warm-season, clumping perennial grass native to Australia and southeast Asia that has been widely planted as a forage/hay crop along with native warm-season grasses

·         Grows 1-3 feet tall, with slender blue-green leaves with thicker midveins—leaves, stems tend to not be completely upright

• * Very similar to yellow bluestem , except Caucasian bluestem has purplish nodes on the flowering stems, and may have short hairs at the nodes
• * Yellow bluestem also grows a little larger and has slender yellow-green leaves and more lax (decumbent) stems

·         Inflorescences are slender digitate  to pyramidal panicles, with silvery, purplish-red or brownish-purple spikelets along inflorescence branches—lateral inflorescence branches are not as long as the main central inflorescence branch

• * Yellow bluestem has lateral inflorescence branches that are longer than the central inflorescence branch

·         Outcompetes native warm-season grasses when grown together, and does not provide as much forage/nutritional value as native warm-season grasses

·         Altering soil carbon-to-nitrogen ratio downgrades soil quality over time

·         Very difficult to control in prairies, rangeland where native warm-season grasses are also present