Grasslands ID

Kentucky Bluegrass

Cool - Fine-textured, sod-forming perennial with boat-shaped leaf tips. Dominant in many lawns and pastures; spreads through rhizomes and prefers fertile soils.

Timothy Grass

Cool - Upright perennial with a dense, cylindrical seedhead resembling a bottlebrush. Important hay grass adapted to cool, moist, fertile sites.

Orchard Grass

Cool - Bluish-green, fluffy seedhead, tufted perennial with dense seedhead clusters. Productive forage grass of pastures and hayfields, especially on fertile, well-drained soils.

Barnyard Grass

Cool - Coarse annual with broad leaves and a branched, caterpillar-like often purplish seedhead. Common in wet, muddy, disturbed ground; a prolific agricultural weed.

Green Foxtail

Warm - Annual with a soft, green, cylindrical “foxtail” seedhead. Colonizes cropland, gardens, roadsides, and other disturbed soil.

Yellow Foxtail

Warm - Annual with a yellowish, bristly seedhead and long hairs near the leaf base. Common in cropland, lawns, pastures, and compacted disturbed soil.

Fall Panicgrass

Warm - Coarse annual with a widely branched panicle, multiple seedheads per stem, flat stems, and often bent or sprawling stems. A weed of moist cropland, ditches, floodplains, and disturbed ground.

Smooth Crabgrass

Warm - Low, spreading annual with mostly smooth leaves and fingerlike seedheads. Thrives in thin turf, compacted soil, and hot disturbed sites.

Hairy Crabgrass

Warm - Spreading annual with conspicuously hairy leaves and fingerlike seedheads. Flourishes during hot weather in lawns, gardens, and disturbed soil.

Woodland Brome

Warm - Native perennial with softly hairy leaves and a loose, rice like, drooping seedhead. Found in rich woods, shaded slopes, forest edges, and openings.

Quackgrass

Cool - Introduced perennial with pale rhizomes that spread rapidly through soil. Aggressive in fields, gardens, roadsides, and disturbed grasslands.

Tall Fescue

Cool - Tall, coarse, leaves have ridges, deep-rooted perennial introduced from Eurasia. Widely planted for pasture and turf but can dominate fields and reduce native plant diversity.

Redtop Bentgrass

Cool - Fine-stemmed perennial with an airy seedhead that becomes reddish at flowering. Introduced pasture grass common in moist fields, ditches, and disturbed sites.

Riparian Rye

Cool - Native perennial bunchgrass with an erect, wheatlike seedhead soft and straight awns. Grows in moist floodplain forests, streambanks, and shaded alluvial ground.

Johnsongrass

Warm - Tall perennial with large open seedheads and aggressive rhizomes. An invasive weed of fields and roadsides; spreads by both seed and underground stems.

Switchgrass

Warm - Tall, white hairy ligule, deep-rooted native perennial with a large airy panicle. Important in prairies, wet meadows, and streambanks for wildlife cover, erosion control, and carbon storage.

Little Bluestem

Warm - Short native bunchgrass with blue-green summer foliage that turns copper-orange in fall. Adapted to dry, sunny, nutrient-poor prairies and supports many insects and birds.

Indiangrass

Warm - Tall native bunchgrass with golden, plume-like seedheads. A major tallgrass-prairie species providing forage, nesting structure, seeds, and winter cover.

Red Clover

Forb - Short-lived perennial legume with pink-red flower heads and pale leaf markings. Used for forage and soil improvement; fixes nitrogen and feeds pollinators.

White Clover

Forb - Low, creeping perennial with white flower heads and three leaflets. Common in lawns and grazed pastures; tolerates mowing and fixes nitrogen.

Deer-tongue Grass

Warm - Native perennial with unusually broad, overlapping, hairy, tongue-shaped leaves. Tolerates acidic, infertile soil and occurs in edges, meadows, woodland openings, and disturbed ground; useful for erosion control.

Goosegrass

Warm - Tough, flattened annual with seed spikes radiating like a goose’s foot. Especially common in compacted lawns, paths, gateways, and heavily trampled soil.

Japanese Stiltgrass

Warm (Invasive) - Delicate annual with a pale, silvery stripe along the leaf midrib. Highly invasive in shaded forests, floodplains, trails, and disturbed areas.

Paspalum

Warm - Usually has rounded spikelets (seeds) arranged along one-sided seedhead branches. Most species favor warm lawns, pastures, roadsides, or moist disturbed ground.

Carpetgrass

Warm (Invasive) - Creeping, mat-forming perennial with broad, blunt leaves. Occupies moist, acidic, low-fertility lawns and pastures, particularly in warmer regions.

Wingstem

Forb - Tall native perennial with yellow flower heads and distinctive leafy “wings” on its stems. Grows along woodland edge, streambanks, and moist fields; valuable to pollinators.T

Ironweed

Forb - Tall native perennial bearing clusters of deep-purple flowers. Characteristic of moist pastures, meadows, and roadsides; supports late-summer pollinators.

Yellow Nut Sedge

Sedge - Yellow-green perennial with triangular stems and underground tubers called nutlets. Aggressive in moist lawns, fields, gardens, and disturbed soils; not a true grass or forb.

Common Plantain

Forb - Low rosette with broad leaves, strong parallel veins, and slender flower spikes. Tolerates trampling and compacted soil around paths, lawns, and livestock areas.

English/Narrowleaf Plantain

Forb - Perennial rosette with narrow, ribbed leaves and small flower heads on long stalks. Common in lawns, pastures, roadsides, and dry disturbed ground.

Wood Reed

Cool - Tall native clump grass with a loose, delicate panicle. Leaves usually on one side. Drooping. Occupies moist woods, swamps, and floodplains. Although physiologically C3, it grows and flowers relatively late, so some references call it warm-season.

Woodland Sunflower

Forb - Native perennial with opposite, rough, barely toothed leaves and yellow sunflower heads. Spreads by rhizomes in dry open woods, savannas, and woodland edges; feeds pollinators and birds.

Brown-eyed Susan

Forb - Branched biennial or short-lived perennial with many small yellow flowers and dark centers. Occurs along woodland edges, roadsides, and disturbed openings.

Joe-pye Weed

Forb - Tall native perennial with whorled leaves and large pink-purple flower clusters. Favors moist meadows, wetlands, and woodland edges and is highly attractive to pollinators.

Reed Canary Grass

Cool - Tall perennial with broad, white midrib, 1 inch sheath, spiral staircase arranged leaves and a dense, branched, non-panicum seedhead. Forms aggressive rhizomatous stands in wetlands, ditches, floodplains, and streambanks, often displacing native vegetation.

Common Milkweed

Forb - Native perennial with broad opposite leaves, milky sap, and round clusters of pink flowers. Spreads by rhizomes in fields and roadsides; an essential monarch butterfly host and valuable nectar plant.

Big Bluestem

Warm - Big, tall native bunchgrass, with purple oval nodes, sometimes hairy leaves, and a three-part seedhead resembling a turkey’s foot. A dominant tallgrass-prairie species that supplies forage, deep-rooted erosion control, and wildlife cover.

Purple Coneflower

Forb - Native perennial with purple drooping rays surrounding a raised, spiny center. Grows in prairies and open woods and provides nectar, pollen, and seeds for wildlife.

Hairy Sunflower

Forb - Rhizomatous native perennial with rough, densely hairy stems and lighter green, opposite leaves and yellow flower heads. Occupies dry open woods, roadsides, prairie edges, and other sunny openings.

Wild Bergamot/Bee Balm

Forb - Aromatic native perennial with lavender, tubular flowers arranged in rounded clusters. Common in prairies, old fields, and woodland edges; heavily visited by bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds.

Prairie Blazing Star

Forb - Upright native perennial with narrow leaves and a dense spike of purple flowers that open from the top downward. Grows in moist-to-mesic prairies and is an excellent pollinator plant.

Sawtooth Sunflower

Forb - Taller, native perennial with sharply toothed alternate leaves, rough feel, smooth stem, and numerous yellow flower heads, short rays. Spreads by rhizomes in moist prairies, floodplains, ditches, and stream margins.

Wild Indigo

Forb - Long-lived native legume with three-part leaves, pea-shaped flowers, and inflated seedpods. Its deep roots tolerate drought and poor soil, while nitrogen fixation improves soil fertility. The exact species should be confirmed from your lab materials.

Canada Goldenrod

Forb - Tall native perennial with arching clusters of small yellow flowers. Spreads readily through rhizomes in fields, prairies, and disturbed ground and supplies important late-season pollinator resources.

Rattlesnake Master

Form - Distinctive native perennial with stiff, yucca-like leaves and round, prickly white flower heads. Found in prairies and savannas; its flowers attract many small bees, wasps, and beetles.

Purple-top Tridens

Warm - Native perennial bunchgrass, usually bent over, greasy feel, with open, airy seedheads that become reddish-purple. Common in old fields, woodland edges, roadsides, and moderately dry disturbed sites.

Wild Senna

Forb - Tall native legume with compound leaves, yellow flowers, and long dark seedpods. Occurs in moist prairies, meadows, and woodland borders; fixes nitrogen and hosts several butterfly species.

Blunt-leaved Mountain Mint

Forb - Aromatic native perennial with broad leaves, silvery flower bracts, and small white-pink flowers. Grows in moist meadows and woodland edges, spreads by rhizomes, and attracts a remarkable variety of pollinators.

New England Aster

Forb - Tall native perennial with purple, pink, or occasionally white flowers surrounding yellow centers. Favors moist prairies and meadows and supplies nectar late in the growing season.

Canada Thistle

Forb - Introduced perennial with spiny leaves and always multiple small pink-purple flower heads. A highly invasive agricultural and grassland weed that forms colonies through extensive creeping roots.

Field Thistle

Forb - Native biennial with spiny leaves that are green above and white-woolly underneath. Pink flower, bracts encompass flower. Occurs in prairies, pastures, roadsides, and open woods and provides valuable food for pollinators and seed-eating birds.

Flat-top Goldenrod

Forb - Native perennial with narrow, grass-like leaves and flat-topped clusters of yellow flowers. Usually grows in moist meadows, wet prairies, stream margins, and open wetlands.

Black-eyed Susan

Forb - Hairy native wildflower with yellow rays surrounding a dark-brown center. Common in prairies, roadsides, old fields, and recently disturbed sites; provides pollen and seeds for wildlife. Unlike brown-eyed Susan, it usually has fewer, larger flowers and unlobed leaves.

Partridge Pea

Forb - Native annual legume with many small paired leaflets and bright-yellow flowers marked with reddish-purple. Grows in dry prairies and disturbed ground; improves soil through nitrogen fixation and provides seeds for birds.

Canada Rye

Cool - Native perennial bunchgrass with nodding, wheatlike seedheads bearing long, curved awns. Occurs in prairies, streambanks, woodland edges, and disturbed sites, especially on moist, fertile soil.

Bottlebrush Grass

Cool - Native woodland bunchgrass with an open, bristly seedhead resembling a bottlebrush. Prefers shaded, rich woods and forest edges. Its widely spreading spikelets distinguish it from the denser seedheads of Canada wildrye and quackgrass.

Gray-headed Coneflower

Forb - Tall native perennial with drooping yellow rays surrounding an elongated gray-brown cone. Found in prairies, savannas, roadsides, and woodland openings; provides food for pollinators and seed-eating birds.

Narrowleaf Mountain Mint

Forb - Aromatic native perennial with square stems, extremely narrow opposite leaves, and clusters of small white flowers. Grows in sunny prairies and open fields and attracts many bees, wasps, and butterflies.

Slender Bush Clover

Forb - Slender native perennial legume with three-part leaves and small pink-purple pea-shaped flowers along the upper stems. Occurs in dry prairies, open woods, and roadsides; fixes nitrogen and provides wildlife food.

Tickseed Sunflower

Forb - Tall native annual with branched stems, divided leaves, and numerous bright-yellow flower heads with yellow centers. It grows in moist fields, wet prairies, ditches, and disturbed ground; its flowers support pollinators, while its barbed seeds attach to fur and clothing. Unlike tall coreopsis, it has alternate, deeply divided leaves and barbed seeds; tall coreopsis is a perennial with opposite, three-part leaves.

Whorled Milkweed

Forb - Slender native perennial with very narrow leaves arranged in whorls and small clusters of greenish-white flowers. Grows in dry, sunny prairies and open ground and serves as a monarch host plant. It is much finer-leaved than common milkweed.

Broomsedge

Warm - Native perennial bunchgrass that becomes copper-orange or reddish-brown in fall and remains upright through winter. Common in dry, acidic, low-fertility pastures and old fields; supplies nesting material and winter cover. It resembles little bluestem but has flatter, straw-colored flowering clusters partly enclosed by sheaths.

Smooth Brome

Cool - Introduced perennial with broad, mostly hairless leaves—often showing a faint “W” crease—and a loose, branched seedhead. It spreads aggressively by rhizomes in pastures, roadsides, and old fields and can displace native prairie plants.

Witchgrass

Warm - Native summer annual with hairy leaves and sheaths and a very large, airy, highly branched seedhead that may break off and tumble in the wind. Common in dry, sandy, cultivated, and disturbed soils. Compared with fall panicgrass, witchgrass is noticeably hairier and has a finer, more delicate seedhead.

Tall Coreopsis

Forb - Tall native perennial, often reaching 4–8 feet, with opposite leaves divided into three narrow leaflets and yellow flowers with dark centers. Grows in moist-to-mesic prairies, savannas, and woodland borders. Unlike plains coreopsis, it is a tall perennial with mostly solid-yellow rays rather than a shorter annual with reddish-brown markings.

Eastern Gammagrass

Warm - Large native bunchgrass with very broad, arching leaves and thick, jointed seed spikes. It resembles a coarse corn plant and usually grows in moist, fertile prairies, drainage areas, and stream bottoms. It provides excellent forage, erosion control, and wildlife cover. Its thick, segmented seedhead separates it from every other grass currently on your list.

Sideoats Grama

Warm - Native perennial bunchgrass with a distinctive zigzag seed stalk bearing small, oat-like spikelets hanging from one side. It grows in dry-to-mesic prairies, open woodlands, and rocky or calcareous soils. Its deep roots provide erosion control, while the plant supplies nutritious forage and seeds for wildlife. The one-sided seed arrangement distinguishes it from every other grass on your list.

Rice Cutgrass

Cool - Native rhizomatous perennial with very rough, sharp-edged leaves and a loose seedhead containing flattened, rice-like spikelets. It forms colonies in marshes, shallow water, streambanks, pond edges, and muddy wetlands. The cutting leaf margins and rice-shaped seeds distinguish it from reed canary grass and wood reed.

Maximilian Sunflower

Forb - Tall native perennial, commonly 3–10 feet, with long, narrow, rough, alternate leaves that often fold or droop. Numerous yellow flower heads develop along the upper portion of the stem in late summer and fall. It grows in sunny prairies and open grasslands, forms colonies through rhizomes, and provides late-season food and cover for pollinators, birds, and other wildlife. Unlike your other sunflowers, its leaves are unusually long, narrow, nearly stalkless, and often curved downward.