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Native Grasses <br />2. Blue >:rama (Bouteloua ~racilis) <br />Warm season, short grass. Most extensive distribution <br />of all grasses on sandy to heavy textured soils of the <br />plains, mesas and sandhills. Found most often with <br />buffalo grass, western wheatgtass and needle grasses. <br />Also in the mountains, but not so important as forage <br />there. Not reported from northwestern Colorado. <br />Produces a good amount of nutritious forage for <br />summer and winter grazing. <br />A bunchgrass that forms a sod under heavy grazing. <br />Occasional plants have rhizomes. Seed stalks (calms) 6 to <br />30 inches tall, in groups, with 1 to 3, usually 2, one- <br />sided, comb-like spikes on each calm. Spikes up to two <br />inches long. The central axis (rachis) of the spike does <br />not extend beyond the last spikelet. Leaves mostly basal; <br />1 to 4 inches long; may tend to curl; a few soft, white <br />hairs at the junction of the leaf blade and leaf sheath. <br /> <br /> <br />Page 7 <br />3. Switchgrass (Panicum virgcttum) <br />Warm season, tall grazs. Scattered throughout the <br />plains on soils that aze medium tenured to sandy. Most <br />often on open ground, along drainages and bottomlands, <br />or meadows in the eastern half of the state. Associated <br />with bluestems, sideoats grams, prairie cordgtass, Indian <br />grass and sand reed grass. <br />Produces large amounts of forage that is grazed <br />mostly in late spring and early summer. The leaves and <br />especially the calms become rank and tough as the plant <br />matures. <br />A bunch-like grass that tends to form a sod, <br />especially when grazed heavily. Has numerous scaly, <br />strong rhizomes. Calms are 2 1/2 to 5 feet tall. Leaf <br />blades blue-green, up to 24 inches long; sometimes with <br />soft, straight hairs on the upper side at the base next to <br />the calm. The inflorescence is an open, wide-spreading <br />panicle 6 to 18 inches long; 1/3 to 1/2 as wide as long. <br />