Oklahoma State Grass

Indian Grass

(Sorghastrum nutans)

Adopted in 1972 .

Indian Grass was adopted in 1972

as the Oklahoma State Grass.

After the mistletoe and Indian blanket came the redbud as state tree in 1971, Indian grass as grass in 1972, and the Oklahoma Rose in 2004.

[NOTE: Indiangrass is listed as the state grass in official literature about Oklahoma emblems and symbols.]

Indiangrass, or Little Bluestem, is a native warm-season prairie bunchgrass widely distributed in the United States throughout the Great Plains from Canada south to the Gulf of Mexico.

Both cold and drought tolerant, Indiangrass is a vigorous and robust perennial. Its roots can lay dormant for up to 5 years, waiting for better growing conditions. Fertile bottom soils with protection from the wind are the prime conditions for Indiangrass, but it also grows in sandy soils and on dry slopes, and can be found in almost any other soil type.

Stems grow from 3 to 5 feet tall, although they may reach as high as 8 to 10 feet. Blue-green leaves are smooth and flat, a half inch wide, elongated, narrow at the base. The panicle, or flower stem, is 8 to 12 inches long and bronze to yellow in color, turning into a golden plume when the seeds are produced. The plant spreads both by self-seeding and by underground rhizomes, which are short and scaly with fuzzy nodes.

As a forage crop, Indiangrass is most useful in the Central and Southern Great Plains. Domestic and wild grazing animals find it quite palatable while succulent (green); it can also be cut for hay.

Characteristics

Culm: Erect, hollow, 3 to 7 feet tall, nodes are fuzzy pubescent.

Blades: Flat, 2 to 24 inches long, .2 to .5 inch wide, pointed, taper to a narrow base, very rough, often glaucous, prominent midrib near the base.

Sheath: Upper shorter than the internodes, usually glabrous. Very prominent "rabbit ear" auricles.

Ligule: Membranous, thick, stiff, 2 to 4 mm long, flanked by pointed auricles.

Inflorescence: Narrow, oblong panicles, 6 to 12 inches long, that are large, dense and bronze-yellow. The apex is often nodding. At first the panicles are open, but are contracted and darker after flowering.

Spikelets: In pairs. Sessile spikelets hirsute 6 to 8 mm long, lanceolate, nearly circular in cross-section, perfect. Pedicellate spikelet represented merely by a hairy pedicel at one side of the sessile spikelet. The spikelets droop, are yellowish to reddish brown and covered with reddish brown hairs toward the base.

Awns: The .5 to .75 inch awn is bent and is twisted up to the bending point. The awn is longer than the spikelet.