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Tall Dropseed
Sporobolus asper
Description: This native perennial grass is 2½–5' tall; it is often tufted at the base, sending up multiple culms from short rootstocks. The light to medium green culms are unbranched, stiffly erect, terete, rather stout, and glabrous. Each culm has about 5-7 alternate leaves; most of these leaves are located along the lower half of each culm. The medium green leaf blades are up to 2' long and 4.5 mm. across; they are ascending to widely spreading with long slender tips. Each leaf blade is rough along its margins and un-derside, and slightly indented/keeled along its middle. Near the base of each leaf blade, there are long white hairs on the upper surface, otherwise it is hairless. The leaf sheaths are medium green, hairless, and longitudinally veined. The ligules are ciliate, while the nodes are mostly hidden by the sheaths and insig-nificant. Each culm terminates in a spike-like panicle about 4-10" long. This narrow panicle is mostly hidden by the uppermost sheath when it is young, but becomes more exposed at maturity. The short branches of the panicle are erect throughout. The individual spikelets of the panicle are 4.5–6.0 mm. long and 1.25 mm. across; they are often organized into groups of 2-3 on the branches, and their pedicels are short. Immature spikelets are white, but they become purplish green and glabrous with age. Each spikelet consists of a pair of glumes, a single lemma, and a palea enclosing the perfect floret. The glumes are un-equal in size: the shorter glume is 2.0–3.0 mm. long, while the longer glume is 3.0–4.0 mm. long. The lemma and the palea are about equal in size (4.0–6.0 mm.) and longer than either glume. The blooming period occurs from early to mid-fall. Afterwards, the spikelets become light tan when their grains are ripe; disarticulation is above the glumes. The root system is fibrous.
Faunal Associations: Two species of grasshoppers (and undoubtedly others), Mermiria bivittata (Two-Striped Slantfaced Grasshopper) and Orphulella speciosa (Slantfaced Pasture Grasshopper), are known to feed on the foliage of Tall Dropseed. The seeds of Sporobolus spp. (Dropseed grasses) are an impor-tant source of food to some granivorous songbirds, particularly during the winter. These species include the Slate-Colored Junco, Lapland Longspur, Smith Longspur, Field Sparrow, White-Crowned Sparrow, and others. Some upland gamebirds probably eat the seeds as well. The Prairie Vole eats both the seeds and foliage of Tall Dropseed. Some hoofed mammalian herbivores, such as bison and cattle, graze on the foliage of this and other Dropseed grasses, particularly when it is immature.
