Index / Search / Andropogon ternarius
§1 Plant
Andropogon ternarius Michx.
vernacular splitbeard bluestem — species · Poaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Monocot
- Family
- Poaceae Barnhart
- Genus
- Andropogon
§2a
Native status, by region
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 336 counties across 12 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- High
- Shade
- Low
- Moisture use
- Low
- Fire
- Medium
- Salinity
- None
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Medium
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -18 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 140 min.
- Precipitation
- 20–60 in/yr
- pH range
- 4–7.5
- Root depth
- 10 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 3.9 ft
- Foliage texture
- Fine
- Foliage colour
- Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Green
- Fruit colour
- Yellow
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Late Summer
- Seed abundance
- Medium
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Fall
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 216,000
- Propagation
- seed, bare root
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- No Known Source
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- High
- Graze palatability
- High
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Low
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 336 counties across 12 states/territories.
Alabama view state ↗ 12 N ▾
Arkansas view state ↗ 30 N ▾
- Ashley 05003
- Baxter 05005
- Benton 05007
- Bradley 05011
- Carroll 05015
- Cleburne 05023
- Conway 05029
- Crawford 05033
- Drew 05043
- Faulkner 05045
- Franklin 05047
- Fulton 05049
- Hempstead 05057
- Hot Spring 05059
- Izard 05065
- Jackson 05067
- Johnson 05071
- Lawrence 05075
- Logan 05083
- Madison 05087
- Nevada 05099
- Pike 05109
- Pope 05115
- Pulaski 05119
- Saline 05125
- Sebastian 05131
- Sharp 05135
- Stone 05137
- Union 05139
- Van Buren 05141
Delaware view state ↗ 2 N ▾
District of Columbia view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Florida view state ↗ 57 N ▾
- Alachua 12001
- Baker 12003
- Brevard 12009
- Broward 12011
- Calhoun 12013
- Charlotte 12015
- Citrus 12017
- Clay 12019
- Collier 12021
- Columbia 12023
- DeSoto 12027
- Dixie 12029
- Duval 12031
- Escambia 12033
- Flagler 12035
- Gadsden 12039
- Gilchrist 12041
- Hamilton 12047
- Hernando 12053
- Highlands 12055
- Hillsborough 12057
- Holmes 12059
- Indian River 12061
- Jackson 12063
- Jefferson 12065
- Lafayette 12067
- Lake 12069
- Lee 12071
- Leon 12073
- Levy 12075
- Liberty 12077
- Madison 12079
- Manatee 12081
- Marion 12083
- Martin 12085
- Miami-Dade 12086
- Monroe 12087
- Okaloosa 12091
- Okeechobee 12093
- Orange 12095
- Osceola 12097
- Palm Beach 12099
- Pasco 12101
- Pinellas 12103
- Polk 12105
- Putnam 12107
- Santa Rosa 12113
- Sarasota 12115
- Seminole 12117
- St. Johns 12109
- Sumter 12119
- Suwannee 12121
- Taylor 12123
- Volusia 12127
- Wakulla 12129
- Walton 12131
- Washington 12133
Georgia view state ↗ 33 N ▾
- Baker 13007
- Bartow 13015
- Ben Hill 13017
- Brooks 13027
- Clarke 13059
- Columbia 13073
- Cook 13075
- Dougherty 13095
- Elbert 13105
- Evans 13109
- Glascock 13125
- Harris 13145
- Henry 13151
- Irwin 13155
- Jackson 13157
- Jasper 13159
- Jefferson 13163
- Johnson 13167
- Jones 13169
- Lee 13177
- Liberty 13179
- Lowndes 13185
- Madison 13195
- McIntosh 13191
- Morgan 13211
- Oglethorpe 13221
- Pike 13231
- Putnam 13237
- Stephens 13257
- Thomas 13275
- Walker 13295
- Washington 13303
- Wilkes 13317
Kentucky view state ↗ 21 N ▾
Louisiana view state ↗ 33 N ▾
- Acadia 22001
- Avoyelles 22009
- Beauregard 22011
- Bienville 22013
- Bossier 22015
- Caddo 22017
- Calcasieu 22019
- Caldwell 22021
- Catahoula 22025
- Claiborne 22027
- De Soto 22031
- Evangeline 22039
- Grant 22043
- Jackson 22049
- Jefferson 22051
- Jefferson Davis 22053
- LaSalle 22059
- Lincoln 22061
- Morehouse 22067
- Natchitoches 22069
- Ouachita 22073
- Rapides 22079
- Red River 22081
- Sabine 22085
- St. Helena 22091
- St. Tammany 22103
- Tangipahoa 22105
- Union 22111
- Vernon 22115
- Washington 22117
- Webster 22119
- West Feliciana 22125
- Winn 22127
Mississippi view state ↗ 11 N ▾
New Jersey view state ↗ 4 N ▾
North Carolina view state ↗ 77 N ▾
- Alamance 37001
- Alexander 37003
- Anson 37007
- Ashe 37009
- Beaufort 37013
- Bertie 37015
- Bladen 37017
- Brunswick 37019
- Buncombe 37021
- Burke 37023
- Cabarrus 37025
- Caldwell 37027
- Camden 37029
- Caswell 37033
- Catawba 37035
- Chatham 37037
- Cherokee 37039
- Chowan 37041
- Cleveland 37045
- Columbus 37047
- Craven 37049
- Cumberland 37051
- Dare 37055
- Davidson 37057
- Davie 37059
- Duplin 37061
- Edgecombe 37065
- Forsyth 37067
- Franklin 37069
- Gaston 37071
- Gates 37073
- Granville 37077
- Greene 37079
- Guilford 37081
- Halifax 37083
- Harnett 37085
- Henderson 37089
- Hertford 37091
- Hoke 37093
- Iredell 37097
- Johnston 37101
- Lee 37105
- Lenoir 37107
- Lincoln 37109
- Madison 37115
- Martin 37117
- McDowell 37111
- Mecklenburg 37119
- Montgomery 37123
- Nash 37127
- Northampton 37131
- Onslow 37133
- Orange 37135
- Pamlico 37137
- Pender 37141
- Person 37145
- Pitt 37147
- Polk 37149
- Randolph 37151
- Richmond 37153
- Robeson 37155
- Rockingham 37157
- Rowan 37159
- Sampson 37163
- Scotland 37165
- Stanly 37167
- Stokes 37169
- Surry 37171
- Union 37179
- Vance 37181
- Wake 37183
- Warren 37185
- Washington 37187
- Wayne 37191
- Wilkes 37193
- Wilson 37195
- Yadkin 37197
Virginia view state ↗ 55 N ▾
- Accomack 51001
- Albemarle 51003
- Brunswick 51025
- Buckingham 51029
- Campbell 51031
- Caroline 51033
- Charles City 51036
- Charlotte 51037
- Chesapeake (city) 51550
- Chesterfield 51041
- Cumberland 51049
- Dinwiddie 51053
- Essex 51057
- Fairfax 51059
- Fluvanna 51065
- Franklin 51067
- Gloucester 51073
- Greensville 51081
- Halifax 51083
- Hampton (city) 51650
- Hanover 51085
- Henrico 51087
- Isle of Wight 51093
- James City 51095
- King and Queen 51097
- King George 51099
- King William 51101
- Lancaster 51103
- Lee 51105
- Louisa 51109
- Lunenburg 51111
- Mathews 51115
- Middlesex 51119
- New Kent 51127
- Northampton 51131
- Northumberland 51133
- Nottoway 51135
- Patrick 51141
- Pittsylvania 51143
- Powhatan 51145
- Prince Edward 51147
- Prince George 51149
- Richmond 51159
- Rockingham 51165
- Russell 51167
- Southampton 51175
- Spotsylvania 51177
- Stafford 51179
- Suffolk (city) 51800
- Surry 51181
- Sussex 51183
- Virginia Beach (city) 51810
- Warren 51187
- Washington 51191
- York 51199
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/ANTE2 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/2706082 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T05:45:41Z