Family: Poaceae

Erect, tufted perennial grass with round, unbranched stems reaching about 3’ tall. Inflorescences appear May through September.

This species is distinguished by having conspicuous tufts of white hairs at the tops of the sheaths; flag blades nearly perpendicular to the stems; and panicles that are contracted and spikelike when young, then open to a pyramid shape at maturity, but remain partially concealed near the bottom by the sheath.

Full to part sun, best on irrigation.

Large seeded and loved by granivorous birds. Like most grasses, this species is used by many grass generalist butterflies and moths as a larval host, and specifically by the Wandering Skipper (Panoquina errans) and the Sandhill Skipper (Polites sabuleti).

Seeds used as food by various Native American groups; ground and mixed into a porridge, combined with with corn meal or used for flour.

The name for the genus comes from thje Greek words 'spora' meaning "seed" and 'ballein' meaning "to throw" alluding to the free seed and the manner of its release. The species, while cryptandrus is Greek for hidden-male. There are 226 species of Sporobolus that grow in tropical, sub¬tropical, and warm-temperate regions throughout the world.

Found on sandy soils of dry plains, slopes, and washes, often in open ground, below 7,000 ft. in all of Canada and most states in the United States except Florida and Alabama, though it is most abundant in the West; south into central Mexico and disjunct in South America.

Photo by KAnatoliy on iNaturalist
Sporobolus crytandrus on SEINET