Common Grasses of Nebraska
prairie • rangelands • pasturelands

EC170

This guide includes a short history of grass development in the state and provides detailed illustrations to help identify plant parts, types of inflorescences, flower types and ligule types, shapes and margins to differentiate one species from another. The descriptions include the following: common and species name, life span, origin, season, growth form, flowering period, inflorescence characteristics (type, spikelets, awns, glumes and other distinguishing characteristics); vegetative characteristics (culms; sheaths; auricles; ligules; blades and rhizomes); distribution and habitat and uses and values (forage, establishment, restoration, wildlife, ornamental). Illustrations usually include the whole plant plus close-ups of plant parts significant to its identification.

Common Grasses of Nebraska includes detailed information on the following as well as some plants closely related to these: big bluestem, sand bluestem; purple threeawn; sideoats grama; blue grama; hairy grama; buffalograss; prairie sandreed; windmillgrass; Bermudagrass; inland saltgrass; purple lovegrass; sand lovegrass; plains muhly; sandhill muhly; marsh muhly, switchgrass; sand paspalum, common reed; blowoutgrass; tumblegrass; little bluestem; Indiangrass; Johnsongrass; prairie cordgrass; alkali sacaton; tall dropseed; sand dropseed; prairie dropseed; purpletop; eastern gamagrass; prairie threeawn; field sandbur; hairy crabgrass; barnyardgrass; stinkgrass; bearded sprangletop; witchgrass; fall panicum; yellow foxtail; bristly foxtail; green foxtail; poverty dropseed; purple sandgrass; crested wheatgrass; redtop bent; creeping foxtail; meadow brome; smooth brome; bluejoint reedgrass; orchardgrass; Canada wildrye; tall wheatgrass; squirreltail; intermediate wheatgrass; quackgrass; western wheatgrass; slender wheatgrass; fowl mannagrass; needleandthread; porcupinegrass; foxtail barley; prairie junegrass; tall fescue; green needlegrass; scribner panicum; wilcox panicum; reed canarygrass; timothy; Canada bluegrass; mutton bluegrass; Kentucky bluegrass; Russian wildrye; Indian ricegrass; Japanese brome; Downy brome; goosegrass; little barley; annual bluegrass; sixweeks fescue; needleleaf sedge; threadleaf sedge; sun sedge; Nebraska sedge; yellow nutsedge; field horsetail; and American bulrush.

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