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SIDEOATS GRAMA
Bouteloua curtipen-dula
Description
Bouteloua curtipendula, sideoats grama, is a medium-size perennial bunchgrass, 15 to 30 inches tall or occasionally taller. This is the largest and most coarse of the grama grasses. It has a bluish-green color, sometimes with a purplish cast (especially in the spring), and cures to a reddish-brown or straw color. Leaves are coarser than other species of gramas, straight, comparatively stiff, and mostly basal. Ten to thirty small, non-comb-like spikes are borne mostly along one side of each central seed stalk. These spikes drop when mature, leaving a long zigzag stalk.
Uses
Erosion Control: This grass is adapted to most soil conditions. Successful seedings are obtained in rocky, stony, or shallow soils. It is a fair to good erosion control plant when mixed with the other plants naturally associated with it.
Grazing: This is one of the most important range grasses. Although not as palatable as some of the smaller gramas, e.g. blue grama, it is more palatable than many of the other grass species. It produces a much greater volume of forage than blue grama, and this tends to make up for its slightly lower palatability. It remains green later in the fall and usually begins growth in the spring before other gramas. It cures well, and maintains a fairly high feeding value throughout the year.
