Grass Family (Poaceae)

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• big bluestem
• Indian grass
• little bluestem
• porcupine grass
• switch grass

​Honeysuckle Family (Caprifoliaceae)

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• late horse gentian

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big bluestem

Andropogon gerardii 

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Indian grass

Sorghastrum nutans

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little bluestem

Schizachyrium scoparium 

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porcupine grass

Hesperostipa spartea ​

This is my favorite grass because the awn of the seed is so interesting.
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Grasses have many parts to the structures that form around the flowers and later the seeds. Often there are long bristle-like appendages called awns.

The awn in porcupine grass is very long (3-8 inches) and has a grooved, dark-colored side and a light-colored side. The difference in heating and drying on the dark vs light side of the awn causes the awn to twist and bend. Ideally when this seed falls off, the twisting action (called geocarpy), drills the seed into the soil. But it will also get into animal fur or your socks because the end is so barbed!

Laura Ingalls Wilder writes about this grass in one of her books because the barbs were irksome getting caught up in the girls’ petticoats. Some Native Americans used the awns tied together as brushes (after burning off the sharp tips).

Scientific name origins:
The first part of the scientific name, hespero, means western or evening and the second part, stipa, means fiber. The specific name, spartea, means broom-like or used for a broom (some thorny shrubs were used to make brooms).

switch grass

Panicum virgatum
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late horse gentian

​Triosteum perfoliatum

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