Andropogon saccharoides Swartz, silver bluestem 
DESCRIPTION 
Warm-season, short-lived, perennial bunch grass. 
Height: 2 to 3 feet. 
Leaf blade: 2 to 8 inches long. 
Stem: Rounded at base; sometimes branching at nodes; 
lower part purplish throughout growing season; usually 
has a ring of white hair at nodes. Stems turn irregularly 
at each node. 
Seedhead: Raceme silky white soon after it emerges from 
spathe. 
GROWTH CHARACTERISTICS 
Growth starts in spring when daily temperature is 70° to 75° F. 
Seedheads emerge 3 to 4 weeks later. Seed ripen during a 4- to 
6-week period. Silver bluestem is a prolific seed producer. 
DISTRIBUTION 
Most abundant throughout central Texas and Oklahoma, as far 
north as Colorado and Missouri, east to Alabama and Mississippi, 
and west to Arizona. 
SITE ADAPTATION 
Grows best on loamy soils underlain by limestone. Grows well 
on clays and clay loams throughout the blackland resource areas 
of the South. Further west, grows on rocky slopes and coarser 
textured soils. Does not grow well on moist sites. 
USE AND MANAGEMENT 
Silver bluestem is used primarily for grazing. Cattle graze it a 
few weeks in spring but little after seedheads form. It can be 
grazed some during winter if livestock are fed a protein supple- 
ment. It is cut for hay only when associated with other grasses 
such as little and big bluestem. Goats relish seedheads when seed 
are in dough stage. This grass is neither seeded nor managed to 
control erosion on critical areas but establishes itself readily on 
denuded soils and overgrazed ranges. 
This grass increases on ranges that are grazed continuously. It 
is an invader on ranges in poor condition. On ranges managed to 
maintain this grass in the plant community, no more than 50 per- 
cent of the current year’s growth by weight should be grazed off. 
Grazing should be deferred 45 to 60 days in the spring every 2 to 
3 years. 
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