Index / Search / Schizachyrium scoparium var. divergens

§1 Plant

Schizachyrium scoparium (Michx.) Nash var. divergens (Hack.) Gould

vernacular little bluestem — variety · Poaceae


USDA
SCSCD
GBIF
2704432 syn.
Rank
variety
little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium var. divergens)
Platephotograph · Scott E SeversCC BY-NC source · iNaturalist ↗

§2Habit & range

Habit and range

Growth habit
Graminoid
Duration
Perennial
Group
Monocot
Family
Poaceae Barnhart
Genus
Schizachyrium
§2a

Native status, by region

  • L48 Lower 48 States Native
§2b

County-level range

· 37 counties across 6 states/territories
Legend Native · 37 Introduced · 0 Both · 0 Hover a county for detail.

§3Cultivation specs · USDA

Recorded by the USDA Plant Materials Program.

§3a

Tolerances

Drought
High
Shade
High
Moisture use
Medium
Fire
High
Salinity
None
Anaerobic
Low
CaCO₃
Low
Hedging
None
§3b

Climate & soil

Cold tolerance
-3 °F minimum
Frost-free days
220 min.
Precipitation
34–48 in/yr
pH range
5.8–6.8
Root depth
10 in min.
Fertility need
Medium
Soil texture
coarse, medium, fine
§3c

Form & growth

Growth form
Bunch
Growth rate
Rapid
Lifespan
Moderate
Mature height
4 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
Low
Seed begins
Summer
Seed ends
Fall
Spread rate
Slow
Stratify
No
Seeds / lb
200,000
Propagation
seed
§3e

Use & availability

Commercial availability
Routinely Available
Nursery stock
No
Browse palatability
Medium
Graze palatability
Medium
Palatable, human
No
Protein potential
Low
Lumber
No
Christmas tree
No

§4Counties, by state

Recorded in 37 counties across 6 states/territories.


§5Sources & provenance

USDA PLANTS

Symbol, taxonomy, distribution, cultivation specs, native status. Public domain.

plants.usda.gov/SCSCD ↗

GBIF Backbone

Canonical taxonomic identity, synonym resolution, cross-refs. CC0.

gbif.org/species/2704432 ↗

Record version

Cached and built locally. Source version on this record:

usda-plants-mt-2026-05-26

fetched 2026-05-26T14:42:51Z