Santa Fe Botanical Garden

Common name: Indian grass

Family: Poaceae (Grass)

Distribution: North America

Habitat: Grasslands, open woodlands

Hardiness: USDA Zone 3 (-40 to -30 °F)

Life form: Grasses

Occurrence in New Mexico: New Mexico native plant

Growing Conditions: Indian grass is native to the North American tall-grass prairie. It also grows throughout the southeastern and southwestern states, including Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, throughout Mexico, and in South America. It grows in prairies, fields, open woods, scrublands, and dry and moist canyons, at elevations from about 4,500-6,500 feet. In New Mexico, it is most common on sandy, mesic sites of the eastern grasslands. It uses a moderate amount of water but is tolerant of short-term droughts. It tolerates and may thrive with periodic inundation and may form pure stands in lowlands. Although it thrives in moist, fertile soils, it may not maintain an upright form in these conditions. It grows in most sand, loam, clay and calcareous soils, in sun, part shade or shade. It grows readily from seed if adequate moisture is available, and may naturalize by self-seeding in optimum growing conditions. Cutting back to the ground in late winter or early spring improves appearance. This rhizomatous, clumping grass is useful for erosion control on slopes and along highways, and in restoration work.

Description: Indian grass consists of a dense tuft of pale green or yellow flowering culms (stems) that grow 3-7 feet tall, with deciduous leaves primarily on the lower half of each culm. The leaf blades are up to 2 feet long and are often arched or spreading. The influorescence is a narrow golden panicle, 4-14 inches long. The branches of the panicle divide into branchlets ending in clusters of spikelets. Each cluster has a fertile sessile spikelet and 1-2 stalked spikelets, which may be either sterile or fertile. An identifying characteristic of the species is presence of modified bracts (glumes and lemmas) only in fertile spikelets. Fertile spikelets can be recognized by their golden colors, and paired glumes and lemmas, one which has a curved or twisted awn (½–¾ inch long). When the grain is mature, the spikelet disarticulates below the glumes, falling to the ground in its entirety. The root system is fibrous and short-rhizomatous. There are several cultivars on the market.