''Andropogon hallii'' (sand bluestem, sand hill bluestem, Hall's bluestem, Hall's beardgrass, prairie bluestem, turkey-foot) is a

sod Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls. In Australian and British English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', and the word "sod" is limited mainly to agricult ...

-forming perennial species in the grass family,

Poaceae Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

. It is a

bunchgrass Tussock grasses or bunch grasses are a group of grass species in the family Poaceae. They usually grow as singular plants in clumps, tufts, hummocks, or bunches, rather than forming a sod or lawn, in meadows, grasslands, and prairies. As perennial ...

which grows in tufts and can reach 7 feet (2.1 meters) in height under favorable conditions. Sand bluestem is native to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. It is found growing from the Mississippi River west to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to

Chihuahua Chihuahua may refer to: Places *Chihuahua (state), a Mexican state **Chihuahua (dog), a breed of dog named after the state **Chihuahua cheese, a type of cheese originating in the state **Chihuahua City, the capital city of the state **Chihuahua Mun ...

, Mexico. It prefers sandy soils and will dominate in areas that average less than 30 inches of rain annually. Sand bluestem is a high quality forage with good palatability for livestock, but it cannot stand up to continuous heavy grazing. It is also valuable as browse for wildlife and as a source of edible seeds and nesting habitat for upland birds.

References

hallii Bunchgrasses of North America Grasses of the United States Grasses of Canada Native grasses of the Great Plains region Flora of Mexico Flora of the United States Flora of the Canadian Prairies Forages {{Panicoideae-stub