Plant · P-1163

Little Bluestem

Schizachyrium scoparium

Little Bluestem is a compact native prairie grass that turns mahogany-red to orange in autumn and holds its shining white seed tufts through winter, feeding sparrows, juncos and prairie chickens when little else is available. Several skipper butterfly caterpillars overwinter inside tube-shaped tents built at the base of its clumps, so leaving the dead foliage standing until late winter matters more here than in most grasses. It spreads only by seed, never by root, and tolerates poor, dry, lime-heavy soil that would starve out taller grasses, though seedlings are slow to establish and need weeding through their first year.