BUFFALOGRASS--Buchloe dactyloides
Description:  Buffalograss is a warm-season, perennial shortgrass and one of the few to reproduce by above-ground stems called stolons.  It is also unusual in that male and female flowers are usually produced on different plants.  Female plants produce seed burs on short stems close to the ground and directly above a few leaves.  Male spikes, looking like miniature seed heads of blue grama, appear on thin stalks above the leaves, typically not taller than 6 inches.  Leaves are hairy and curly.  Vegetatively, buffalograss is not always discernible from blue grama with which it often grows.  Blue grama tends to be less hairy and only rarely produces stolons.
Distribution, habitat:  Buffalograss is an important native constituent of the mixed grass and shortgrass prairies of the Great Plains from North Dakota to Mexico, confined to medium and fine textured soils.
	Comments:  In the central and southern Great Plains and in the Southwest, buffalograss produces an abundant portion of the forage; but throughout the northern Great Plains, including western South Dakota, its contribution is modest.  Throughout its range, buffalograss increases under heavy grazing pressure.  All grazing animals utilize buffalograss during all seasons.  Buffalograss and blue grama are common associates; with overgrazing on moderately fine soils, they will replace western wheatgrass and other midgrasses.  With continued overgrazing, buffalograss will replace blue grama.  Once established, it forms a tight sod.  Due to its good soil cover and drought resistance, buffalograss is frequently favored for erosion control on soils containing very little sand.  In addition, buffalograss is occasionally used for low water lawns; 'Sharps Improved,' 'Cody,' and 'Tatanka' are sold for turf.  This is the only grass in the genus Buchloe.
Pictures and information can be found on pages 26 and 27 of Grassland Plants of South Dakota and the Northern Great Plains, by James R. Johnson and Gary E. Larson.  Published in 1999 by South Dakota State University, Brookings, SD.