Schizachyrium tenerum Nees

Slender Bluestem; Slender False Bluestem

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Slender Bluestem is a native herbaceous perennial in the Grass family (Poaceae). It can be found in the southern third of Alabama. Slender Bluestem occurs in dry Longleaf Pine forests, in scrub oak woods, in coastal prairies, and in sandhills. It is a perennial with a fibrous root system. Plants are cespitose, forming distinct clumps. Stems are 2-3 feet in length and are reclining or decumbent. Leaves are linear and usually glabrous. They are often revolute. Along the center of the upper surface of the leaf there is a wide central stripe of white, spongy tissue. Flowers are produced in pairs of spikelets arranged in a terminal raceme. One spikelet of the pair is sessile, the other pedicellate. Sessile spikelets have lower glumes that are glabrous and upper lemmas that are entire and acute. The lemmas have long twisted awns. The pedicellate spikelets are sterile and lack an awn. Slender Bluestem was once an important component of coastal prairie grasslands and of the Longleaf Pine/Wiregrass community. Slender Bluestem is not as shade tolerant as other grasses and requires frequent fire to remove competition from woody species and accumulated litter. It also does not tolerate close grazing, trampling, or mechanical disturbance.—A. Diamond

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Native FAC (NWPL)

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