OF THE CAROLINAS & GEORGIA

Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Commelinids: Poales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Andropogon gerardi   FAMILY Poaceae   Go to FSUS key



SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT) PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Andropogon gerardii   FAMILY Poaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Illustrated Flora of East Texas (Diggs et al., 2006)

Andropogon gerardii ssp. gerardii

SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT) Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 25 (2003)

Andropogon gerardii

SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT) VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 029-87-002:

Andropogon gerardii   FAMILY Poaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Grasses of the US (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950)

Andropogon gerardi

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)

Andropogon provincialis

 

COMMON NAME:
Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot


         To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950    pnd_ange_006_lvd

        

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950    pnd_ange_009_lvd

        

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

JK Marlow    jkm0506h_28

June    Oconee County    SC

Plant bluish-green, tufted, erect, often glaucous. Lf blades ~ 0.2-0.4" wide, per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

JK Marlow    jkm160717_348

July    Greenville County    SC

Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve

Grass flowers usually w 2 lodicules, 3 stamens, ovary w 2 feathery stigmas, per How to Know the Grasses: Pictured Key Nature Series (Pohl, 1954).

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

JK Marlow    jkm160717_350

July    Greenville County    SC

Bunched Arrowhead Heritage Preserve

The once-endless tallgrass prairie with majestic big bluestem is past, per Book of Field and Roadside (Eastman, 2003).

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

JK Marlow    jkm0408k_26b

August    Oconee County    SC

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

JK Marlow    jkm0408k_36

August    Oconee County    SC

Isolated stands exist today mainly along railroads, fencerows and roadsides, per Book of Field and Roadside (Eastman, 2003).

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

Richard and Teresa Ware    rtw_andropogon_gerardii_3

August        

Racemes on long-exserted terminal peduncle mostly 3-6, fewer on branches, per Manual of the Grasses of the United States (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950).

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

JK Marlow    jkm230905_5273

September    Pickens County    SC

Glassy Mountain Heritage Preserve

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

JK Marlow    s050917_c

September    Cabarrus County    NC

Suther Prairie

Flowering raceme has 3 branches arising from a common point (the Turkeyfoot), per Wildflowers of Tennessee (Carman, 2005).

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

JK Marlow    s050917_d

September    Cabarrus County    NC

Suther Prairie

Bristles (awns) that project from the flowers are sharply bent, per Book of Field and Roadside (Eastman, 2003).

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

JK Marlow    jkm111029_122

October    Pickens County    SC

When the plant is in flower, the bright yellow anthers are prominent, per Vascular Plants of North Carolina.

image of Andropogon gerardi, Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot

JK Marlow    jkm0311a_23

November    Pickens County    SC

Roadside

Purplish seedhead a narrow cluster of linear raceme resembling a turkeyfoot, per Gardening with the Native Plants of Tennessee (Hunter, 2002).

 

 

WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Andropogon gerardi   FAMILY Poaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT) PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Andropogon gerardii   FAMILY Poaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Illustrated Flora of East Texas (Diggs et al., 2006)
Andropogon gerardii ssp. gerardii

SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT) Flora of North America north of Mexico, vol. 25
Andropogon gerardii

SYNONYMOUS WITH (ORTHOGRAPHIC VARIANT) VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 029-87-002:
Andropogon gerardii   FAMILY Poaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Grasses of the US (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950)
Andropogon gerardi

SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Andropogon provincialis

 

Find by SCIENTIFIC NAME:

84

Grass, Sedge, or Rush
Perennial

Habitat: In a wide variety of habitats, usually rather dry, such as longleaf pine sandhills, glades, cliffs, and rock outcrops, in the Piedmont in woodlands, former prairie-like sites, woodlands, open forests, and river-scour grasslands, in the Mountains in glades, riverside scour areas, and rarely in grassy balds, ascending to at least 1600 m over mafic rocks (on Old Field Bald, Watauga and Ashe counties, NC), per Weakley's Flora

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Common

map
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.

LEAVES:
Simple
Basal & alternate, 2-ranked

FLOWER:
Summer/Fall

Raceme (2-5 per peduncle)

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Grain purplish/Yellowish
Grain

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



 


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