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What is a Grass? 



A grass can be any one of a family of 

 plants with long, narrow leaves, jointed 

 stems, flowers that grow in spikelets, and 

 seedlike fruit. Grass may spread from 

 seed, runners on top of the ground, or 

 stems (rhizomes) underground. A grass 

 may be anything from the tiniest alpine 

 plant that grows no more than an inch tall, 

 to the bamboo that looks like a tree and 

 may grow to 120 feet. 



Grass in the Plant Conununity 



Grasses are only one part of a natural 

 plant community — Montana's grasslands 

 also contain forbs, sedges, and shrubs. 

 Forbs are broad-leafed plants like sunflow- 

 ers, wild geraniums, asters, and lupine 

 that bloom early when soil moisture is 

 high. Sedges, such as the Rocky Mountain 

 fringed gentian, usually grow in moist 

 areas. Generally their stems are triangular 

 and solid; they have three rows of narrow, 

 pointed leaves, and flowers that may be 



very tiny. These plants belong to the same 

 large family as the Egyptian papyrus used 

 to make paper in ancient times. Montana's 

 native shrubs include the wild rose, wil- 

 low, chokecherry, buffaloberry, and Ore- 

 gon grape. The fruits from some of these 

 shrubs gave both Indians and settlers a de- 

 licious food that was high in vitamin C. 



What Grows Where? 



Altitude, climate, land forms (or topog- 

 raphy), and soils determine what grasses 

 grow in certain places. Montana is a big 

 state, with a climate that ranges from 

 North Pacific to desert-like, with soils of 

 many kinds, and altitudes from 1,800 feet 

 to over 12,000 feet. You might expect, 

 then, that a wide variety of native grasses 

 grow here. 



In the following section the state's 

 grasslands are divided into ten general 

 areas, by geographical location, elevation, 

 and by the soil type most prevalent. There 

 are many variations within these areas, 

 but these are some of the principal 

 grasslands. 



Pacific Bluegrass 



Beginning in the mountains of northwest 

 Montana, a few high altitude grasses, such as elk 

 sedge, grow £dong the steep western slopes in forests 

 of Douglas fir and western larch. Montana's state 

 grass, bluebunch wheatgrass*, grows in ponderosa 

 forests here and throughout the state. Shrubs and 

 broadleafed forbs survive best in the sandy loam of 

 these high areas, which are good summer range 

 for deer and elk. Bears are fond of the huckleberries 

 that grow here. 



Bluebunch Wheatgrass 



In the mountain valleys the soil is deeper and more 

 fertile than that on the surrounding hillsides. The 

 grasses most common there are needlegrass, 

 meadow grasses, Canada and Sandberg and Pacific 

 bluegrasses*, prairie Junegrass, and rough fescue. 



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