SCIENTIFIC NAME: Panicum virgatum
COMMON NAME: Switchgrass, Prairie Switchgrass, Tall Panicgrass, Thatchgrass, Wild Redtop, Blackbent, Virginia Switchgrass, Wobsqua Grass, Wand Panicgrass, Lowland Switchgrass, Tall Prairiegrass
BLOOM TIME: July, Aug, Sept
PLANT PROFILE:
- Perennial grass can be 3-9 ft. tall & stands erect.
- Leaf blades are about 2 ft. x ½ in., medium green, hairless & indented at mid vein.
- Habitat: full sun, will tolerate any kind of soil, & prefers drier conditions.
- A dominant grass of the tall grass prairie.
- Has tiny flowers & many tiny seeds on spikelets.
- Switch grass has been evaluated as a possible source of alcohol for biofuel.
- It can produce more alcohol per acre than corn, but its bulky foliage could impede processing and shipping.
- Used in landscaping, turning a wheat color in fall.
INSECT/ANIMAL INTERACTIONS:
- Insects feeding on grass include caterpillars of several skippers, larvae of grass leaf-miner moths, gall flies, plants bugs, stink bugs, aphids, leafhoppers, mealybugs, leaf beetles, grasshoppers.
- Seeds are eaten by a variety of birds, including wetland birds, upland gamebirds, grain eating songbirds & Prairie Deer Mouse.
- Very young foliage of grass is edible to cattle & other hoofed mammalian herbivores.
- Grass remains upright during winter, often forms large clumps & providing good cover for various birds & mammals during this cold weather.