Index / Search / Bouteloua gracilis
§1 Plant
Bouteloua gracilis (Willd. ex Kunth) Lag. ex Griffiths
vernacular blue grama — species · Poaceae
§2Habit & range
Habit and range
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Group
- Monocot
- Family
- Poaceae Barnhart
- Genus
- Bouteloua
§2a
Native status, by region
- CAN Canada Native
- L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b
County-level range
· 179 counties across 9 states/territories§3Cultivation specs · USDA
Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.
§3a
Tolerances
- Drought
- High
- Shade
- High
- Moisture use
- Medium
- Fire
- High
- Salinity
- Medium
- Anaerobic
- None
- CaCO₃
- Medium
- Hedging
- None
§3b
Climate & soil
- Cold tolerance
- -43 °F minimum
- Frost-free days
- 142 min.
- Precipitation
- 8–22 in/yr
- pH range
- 6.6–8.4
- Root depth
- 16 in min.
- Fertility need
- Low
- Soil texture
- coarse, medium, fine
§3c
Form & growth
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Growth rate
- Rapid
- Lifespan
- Moderate
- Mature height
- 1 ft
- Foliage texture
- Medium
- Foliage colour
- Gray-Green
- Porosity (summer)
- Moderate
- Porosity (winter)
- Porous
- Flower colour
- Yellow
- Fruit colour
- Brown
- Fire resistant
- No
- N fixation
- None
- Toxicity
- None
§3d
Reproduction
- Bloom period
- Early Summer
- Seed abundance
- High
- Seed begins
- Summer
- Seed ends
- Summer
- Spread rate
- Slow
- Stratify
- No
- Seeds / lb
- 724,400
- Propagation
- seed
§3e
Use & availability
- Commercial availability
- Routinely Available
- Nursery stock
- No
- Browse palatability
- High
- Graze palatability
- High
- Palatable, human
- No
- Protein potential
- Medium
- Lumber
- No
- Christmas tree
- No
§4Counties, by state
Recorded in 179 counties across 9 states/territories.
Arizona view state ↗ 15 N ▾
Illinois view state ↗ 5 N ▾
Iowa view state ↗ 15 N ▾
Kansas view state ↗ 84 N ▾
- Barber 20007
- Barton 20009
- Butler 20015
- Chase 20017
- Cheyenne 20023
- Clark 20025
- Clay 20027
- Cloud 20029
- Coffey 20031
- Comanche 20033
- Cowley 20035
- Decatur 20039
- Dickinson 20041
- Douglas 20045
- Edwards 20047
- Elk 20049
- Ellis 20051
- Ellsworth 20053
- Finney 20055
- Ford 20057
- Geary 20061
- Gove 20063
- Graham 20065
- Grant 20067
- Gray 20069
- Greeley 20071
- Greenwood 20073
- Hamilton 20075
- Harper 20077
- Harvey 20079
- Haskell 20081
- Hodgeman 20083
- Jackson 20085
- Jefferson 20087
- Jewell 20089
- Kearny 20093
- Kingman 20095
- Kiowa 20097
- Lane 20101
- Lincoln 20105
- Logan 20109
- Lyon 20111
- Marion 20115
- Marshall 20117
- McPherson 20113
- Meade 20119
- Mitchell 20123
- Morris 20127
- Morton 20129
- Ness 20135
- Norton 20137
- Osage 20139
- Osborne 20141
- Ottawa 20143
- Pawnee 20145
- Phillips 20147
- Pratt 20151
- Rawlins 20153
- Reno 20155
- Republic 20157
- Rice 20159
- Riley 20161
- Rooks 20163
- Rush 20165
- Russell 20167
- Saline 20169
- Scott 20171
- Sedgwick 20173
- Seward 20175
- Shawnee 20177
- Sheridan 20179
- Sherman 20181
- Smith 20183
- Stafford 20185
- Stanton 20187
- Stevens 20189
- Sumner 20191
- Thomas 20193
- Trego 20195
- Wabaunsee 20197
- Wallace 20199
- Wichita 20203
- Woodson 20207
- Wyandotte 20209
Maine view state ↗ 1 N ▾
Massachusetts view state ↗ 2 N ▾
Minnesota view state ↗ 38 N ▾
- Becker 27005
- Benton 27009
- Big Stone 27011
- Blue Earth 27013
- Cass 27021
- Chippewa 27023
- Clay 27027
- Cottonwood 27033
- Crow Wing 27035
- Dakota 27037
- Douglas 27041
- Kandiyohi 27067
- Kittson 27069
- Lac qui Parle 27073
- Lincoln 27081
- Lyon 27083
- Mahnomen 27087
- Marshall 27089
- McLeod 27085
- Morrison 27097
- Murray 27101
- Nicollet 27103
- Norman 27107
- Otter Tail 27111
- Pipestone 27117
- Polk 27119
- Pope 27121
- Ramsey 27123
- Redwood 27127
- Renville 27129
- Sherburne 27141
- Stearns 27145
- Stevens 27149
- Swift 27151
- Traverse 27155
- Wilkin 27167
- Winona 27169
- Yellow Medicine 27173
Montana view state ↗ 17 N ▾
New York view state ↗ 2 N ▾
§5Sources & provenance
USDA PLANTS
Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.
plants.usda.gov/BOGR2 ↗GBIF Backbone
Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.
gbif.org/species/7861320 ↗Record version
Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:
usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26
fetched 2026-05-26T07:25:30Z