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Montana Field Guide

Montana Field Guides

Buffalo Grass - Buchloe dactyloides
Other Names:  Bouteloua dactyloides

Image Copyright and Usage Information
Native Species

Global Rank: G4G5
State Rank: S4?
C-value: 4


Agency Status
USFWS:
USFS:
BLM:


 

External Links

 
General Description
Warm season, dioecious, perennial sodgrass with creeping stolons. Stems 4–10 cm. leaf blades 1–1.5 mm wide, curly; sheaths with overlapping margins; ligule hairy. Inflorescence: staminate of 1 to 3 secund, lateral, divergent spikes, each 8–15 mm long with 10 to 15 spikelets, pistillate of 4 to 5 spikelets clustered into a short burr-like head or enclosed in sheathing leaf bases, this falling entire. Spikelets 4–6 mm long with 1 floret, the second glume becoming hardened and bony in texture and forming the burr-like covering. Lemmas distinctly 3-nerved, awnless, fused 2 to 5 together into a burr-like structure; palea enclosed in floret. Disarticulation above glumes in staminate inflorescence or below glumes in pistillate inflorescence; unit of dispersal is 3 to 5 spikelets enclosed in a burr-like covering (Lavin in Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Species Range
Montana Range Range Descriptions

Native
 


Range Comments
Throughout much of central North America (Lavin in Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

Observations in Montana Natural Heritage Program Database
Number of Observations: 216

(Click on the following maps and charts to see full sized version) Map Help and Descriptions
Relative Density

Recency

 

(Observations spanning multiple months or years are excluded from time charts)



Habitat
Disturbance-prone open dry sites including pastures, roadsides, and lawns (Lavin in Lesica et al. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. BRIT Press. Fort Worth, TX).

References
  • Literature Cited AboveLegend:   View Online Publication
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2012. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 771 p.
  • Additional ReferencesLegend:   View Online Publication
    Do you know of a citation we're missing?
    • Anderson, N.L. 1962. Grasshopper-vegetation relationships on Montana grasslands. Ph.D Dissertation. Bozeman, Montana: Montana State University. 73 p.
    • Birkby, J.L. 1983. Interaction of western harvester ants with southeastern Montana soils and vegetation. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT. Montana State University. 35 pp.
    • Brey, C.W. 1998. Epidemiology of wheat curl mite (Aceria tosichella K.) and wheat streak mosaic virus on feral grass species and effect of glyphosate on wheat curl mite dispersal. Ph.D. Dissertation. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 136 p.
    • DuBois, K.L. 1979. An inventory of the avifauna in the Long Pines of Southeastern Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 113 p.
    • Haile, K.F. 2011. Fuel load and heat effects on Northern mixed prairie and four prominent rangeland graminoids. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 71 p.
    • Harvey, A.J. 2019. Understanding the biology, ecology, and integrated management of Ventenata dubia. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 117 p.
    • Harvey, S.J. 1990. Responses of steppe plants to gradients of water soil texture and disturbance in Montana, U.S.A. Ph.D. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 34 p.
    • Johnson, C.M. 2002. Effects of black-tailed prairie dogs on the mixed-grass prairie in Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 89 p.
    • Johnson, J.D. 2004. Restoring native species to crested wheatgrass dominated rangelands. M.Sc.Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 58 p.
    • King, L.A. 1980. Effects of topsoiling and other reclamation practices on nonseeded species establishment on surface mined land at Colstrip, Montana. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 129 p.
    • Lesica, P., M.T. Lavin, and P.F. Stickney. 2022. Manual of Montana Vascular Plants, Second Edition. Fort Worth, TX: BRIT Press. viii + 779 p.
    • MacCracken, J.G. and D.W. Uresk. 1984. Big game habitat use in southeastern Montana. The Prairie Naturalist 16(3):135-139.
    • Maxwell, B.D. 1984. Changes in an infested plant community after an application of picloram, the effect of glyphosate on bud dormancy, the effect of pulling and the fuel potential of leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula L.). M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 73 p.
    • Reichel, J.D., D.L. Genter and E. Atkinson. 1992. Sensitive animal species in the Elkhorn and Big Belt Mountains of the Helena National Forest. Unpublished report to the Helena National Forest. Montana Natural Heritage Program, Helena. 158 p.
    • Skinner, K.F. 1995. Plant and grasshopper community composition: indicators & interactions across three spatial scales. M.Sc. Thesis. Bozeman, MT: Montana State University. 144 p.
  • Web Search Engines for Articles on "Buffalo Grass"
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Citation for data on this website:
Buffalo Grass — Buchloe dactyloides.  Montana Field Guide.  .  Retrieved on , from