Andropogon gerardii

Big Bluestem


Big Bluestem Entire Plant

Field views of Andropogon gerardii will come later. These are small AZ desert specimens.

 Andropogon gerardii Fingers

The "fingers" are most often in threes, called turkeyfoot.

 Three-fingered 'Turkeyfoot'

This grass can grow four to eight feet tall. Twisty awns are visible.

Long, Bent Awns

The awns are long, twisted and bent. The inflorescence is purplish or yellowish.

 Five-fingered Seedhead

A five-fingered specimen.

 Floret with a Doubly-bent Awn

This floret shows its twice-bent awn.

How to Identify Big Bluestem

  Andropogon gerardii is a perennial bunchgrass, up to head-high and forming thick, wide clumps. It usually has a characteristic three-fingered 2-4 inch purplish inflorescence for which it is called 'turkeyfoot'. Spikelets are paired, one bisexual and awned, the other unawned and on a pedicel (short branchlet). The 1/2 to 3/4 inch awn is twisted and bent, sometimes doubly. Its leaves can be 1/2 inch wide and 18 inches long. The roots have short rhizomes.



Similar Species

  I count 14 finger-like grasses in Arizona. All are smaller and shorter than Big Bluestem. None of the others look as purple/brown. Chloris virgata and Paspalum dilatatum have shorter awns. Bothriochloa ischaemum is more of a pink color.