Foxtail Grass

Foxtail Grass; Setaria viridis (Green Foxtail/Bristlegrass); a short to mid-sized annual bunch-grass that produces clumps of thin, jointed stems lined with wide, relatively short blades, producing spikes of very fuzzy looking, dense seed-heads.  This species was introduced from Europe, and is closely related to finger millet, as can be guessed from the rounded seeds and the short beard hairs that protect the spikes from birds.  It is too short, and lacks the deep roots to compete with native grasses, but readily colonizes disturbed ground or open soil.  The seeds are readily consumed by birds, if they can get to them without the beards poking them in the eyes.  The wide, soft green blades, and the fluffy seed heads make this grass a fun looking plant.

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Green Foxtail Grass habit; a medium height bunch grass with short, wide, soft green blades that produces fluffy spikes of round seeds that droop.

Note; tight bunches of stems produce a brush of bristly seed heads

Big Bluestem Grass

Big Bluestem Grass; Andropogon gerardi, a late season stem grass that sends up long, (around 24″ tall) jointed stems from a dense mat of short rhizomes, this grass seems to grow little until late summer.  Then it sends up many fast growing, jointed flower spikes that divide into four sprigs, each 3-4″ long, lined with tiny flower.  The leaves are narrow and of medium length, growing directly from rhizomes that creep so slowly the grass seems to be a bunch grass.  This grass does not give even coverage, resulting in a rough  surface, and seems dormant most of the summer.  It is the most noticeable grass on the PDU during Fall and early Winter, when it sends up flower spikes.  It is common in lawns and road sides, making it necessary to mow lawns even when other grasses have gone dormant.

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Big Bluestem habit; a bunchgrass growing from wide clumps dense with short rhizomes that sends up tall, jointed flower spikes during Fall and Winter.

Note; the flower spikes, which divide into 4 flower racimes, turn the prairies smoky grey during the Fall blooming season

Note; until it blooms, Bluestem is characterized by medium length blades of grass growing from tightly packed, short rhizomes.

Note; the jointed flower spikes, up to 24″ tall, divide into 4 flower sprigs 3-4″ long

Red Flowered Grass

Red Flowered Grass; Species unknown. Most grasses have tiny, inconspicuous flowers that are only open for a couple days, this tall grass has bright red flowers with protruding stamen and pistol.  It is rare, and so far unidentified.

Note; long spikes of bright red flowers growing from small bunches of grass

Johnson Grass

Johnson Grass, Sorghum halepense;  a very tall, jointed grass, rising from a thick rhizome, which produces a long, open spike of small seeds that remotely look like rice grains.  The long, broad leaves are often red toward the tips, growing part way up the flower spikes.  The thick, pithy stems are strongly jointed at nodes that may be 10″ apart.  Johnson Grass grows quickly, and the rhizomes easily break off when uprooted, allowing the grass to spread underground.  The rhizomes are edible, but not filling.  Johnson grass is not viable as a commercial food, for although the heads are heavy, the grains are small and tightly wrapped in chaff like bracts, and the leaves are poor in grazing quality.  Most common along partly shaded forest margins, or intermittent drainages.  New heads may be purple, opening to white flowers, which then ripen into small seeds.  Most of the seeds are eaten by birds, especially doves.

Rice Grass habit; fast growing stem grass with long, broad leaves, which produces long flower spikes bearing loose panicles of seeds that look remotely by rice.

Note; the tall, fast growing blades are often tipped in red

Note; long jointed flower spikes produce loose panicles of small white flowers

Spear Grass

Spear Grass; Heteropogon contortus, (Winter Grass, Needle Grass); this perennial grass grows in widely scattered, small clumps with only a few weakly upright, narrow blades that provides poor grazing.  It is notorious for producing loose seed heads of only a few grains, each with a sharply pointed seed and a long, straight, coarse beard or tail.  Although the grain could be eaten, it is too small, and too widely scattered, and too sparse to justify the effort.  The seeds are easily dislodged, sticking into fabric, animal hair, and even piercing the skin.  Webbed shoes are especially vulnerable to the seeds, whose barbed tip works its way through the fabric or fur, into the skin.  However, the blades are often green during the winter, offering a flush of green while other prairie plants are dead or hibernating.

Spear Grass habit; a sparse, widely scattered perennial grass that produces loose heads of seeds with a sharp tip and a long, coarse “beard” hair.

Note; the open seed head with only a few grains, and narrow, sparse leaf blades

 

Western Wheat Grass

Western Wheat Grass; Agropyron smithii, a perennial grass with deep roots that builds sod, while also producing a wheat like head with small, edible grains.  Modern wheat is an annual that dies every year, the plump heads held up on stiff hollow stems that allow them to be harvested mechanically.  Wheat grass produces a head somewhat like wheat, but the stems are more fragile, and the grain shatters off the head easily when struck by rain-drops, tossed by the wind, or bumped by the paddles of harvesters, the better for propagating the plant.  Wheat grass grows back from the roots every year, and sends roots down as deep as 15 feet, helping it endure drought, and helping hold the soil together, resisting erosion.  Natural propagation scatters the seeds widely, giving it a measure of protection against crop pests like aphids and rust, which cannot travel far.  The grass makes good grazing, but once it begins to flower, much of the nutrients value goes into the grain, the straw being left with reduced nutritional value.  Wheat grass is currently being bred with wheat in hopes of producing a perennial, drought tolerant food crop.

Western Wheatgrass habit; a perennial, deep rooted grass that grows in a tight clump, producing a compact head of grain that looks like wheat.

Note; flower heads produce a head of grains, each protected by a bract and a “beard hair” that keeps birds from eating the seeds.

Note; the heads, when dry, look like wheat, except that the grains easily “shatter”, releasing the seeds when hit by rain or buffeted by wind

 

Viburnum, Rusty Blackhaw

Viburnum; Rusty Blackhaw Viburnum Viburnum rufidulum Raf;.  A small, understory, evergreen tree with cubed, but not ridged, corky bark, V rufidulum yearly produces new sprigs of glossy green, oval leaves with a very finely toothed margin, arranged in opposite pairs along the stems, completely lacking any drip-tip.  New stems, often long arching suckers off of the main trunk and branches, have a slight layer of rusty colored fuzz, giving the plant its descriptive name. Panicles of small, white, tube flowers that are mildly fragrant, bud from the ends of new growth.  The short tube ends in a corolla of 5 petals, with five white stamen, each tipped with a yellow anther, protruding beyond the profile of the flower, giving the bunches a slightly fuzzy look. The fruit are oblong, dark blue drupe with a single seed. Viburnum cultivars are popular in hedges, both for their yearly bloom of large, showy bunches of white flowers, and their glossy, evergreen foliage. (957-958) 3/30 – 4/15/15; 3/15 – 4/5/16; 3/22/17 – 4/7/17; 3/28/18; 19 no obs; 3/25/20;

Note; terminal bunches of white tube flowers that unfold into a corolla with 5 petals, the white stamen tipped with yellow anthers protrude beyond the profile of the flowers, giving the bunches a fuzzy look

Rusty Blackhaw habit; an evergreen, understory shrub with dark, corky bark, glossy foliage, and showy bunches of white flowers that convert to oblong blue drupes

Note; the dark bark is corky and divided into cubes, not furrowed ridges.

Note; bright, evergreen, glossy, oval leaves with very fine serration along the margins, are arranged in opposite pairs along stems, completely lacking any drip-tip

Treebine

Treebine; Cissus incisa Desmoul;. This soft stemmed, vine like, readily branching, deciduous plant that is a member of the grape family, Vitis, zig-zags between leaf nodes.  Three lobed, crisp, almost succulent leaves, with coarse, pointed teeth and drip tips on each lobe, bud from each node, alternating sides, a climbing tendril grows opposite each leaf.  Umbels of tiny green flowers which, like grapes, lack petals, bud from the ends of new growth, converting to loose bunches of black, juicy berries that look like grapes, but generally are not eaten.  Treebine grows abundantly in well watered areas, though its tuberous root stores water, making it drought tolerant.  It is usually found clamoring over other plants, but is often out of sight, as it readily climbs into the crowns of surrounding trees in search of light. (709) 6/10/17; 5/18/18; 19 no obs; 20 no obs;

Treebine habit; a woody, but soft vine-like plant that zig-zags between nodes, bearing coarsely toothed trifoliate leaves and umbels of tiny flowers that convert to juicy, black berries.

Note; crisp, succulent trifoliate leaves with coarse, pointed teeth on each leaflet, alternating along the soft stems, climbing tendrils growing opposite leaves at each node

Note; umbels of tiny greenish flowers lacking petals bud from the ends of new growth

Note; loose bunches of black, juicy, grape-like drupes, generally inedible, but not poisonous

Sumac; Prairie and Smooth Flame-Leaf Sumac

Sumac; Prairie and Flame-Leaf/Smooth Sumac Rhus copallina L;. As the name implies, the leaves of this woody, deciduous shrub turn bright red in the fall.  The trunks have low, rough, corky knobs, but are otherwise smooth and unfurrowed.  Long (10-14”) pinnate leaves bear opposite pairs of slightly asymmetric, lance shaped leaflets. Terminal clusters of tiny greenish-white, fragrant flowers bud from the ends of this year’s growth, each with 5 petals arranged around a central disk.  Flowers convert to heavy stalks of hard, dark red berries (some varieties are white).  Though small and inconspicuous, sumac has many uses.  The resin of this Sumac has a copal like property, and can be burned as an incense, earning it the scientific species name copallina.  The stems and bark contain high levels of tannin, used for curing hides, and Amerindians crushed the berries to make lime-laced water taste palatable.  The berries are a rich source of food for birds migrating through DFW in the early spring. Two nearly identical varieties grow in the area, the Prairie Flame Leaf has toothed edges on the leaves, but lacks wings on leaf stems, while the flower petals are longer, and whiter.  The Smooth Flame-Leaf has a smooth, untoothed leaf margins, with flattened wings on leaf stems, while the flowers are more rounded, and have a darker colored disks, but both varieties are considered one species.  (632-633) 5/10/15; 5/30/16; 5/15/17 – 5/30/17; 6/2/18; 19 no obs. 5/20/20

Note; flowers convert to dense panicles of dark red (or white), hard berries, readily eaten by migrating birds in the spring

Flame Leaf Sumac habit; a densely branching, deciduous tree with relatively smooth bark, bearing alternating, compound pinnate leaves and panicles of white flowers that convert to dense clusters of dark red berries.

Note; the relatively smooth bark lacks ridges, or scales, but has corky rough protuberances

Note; Smooth Flame Leaf Sumac have compound pinnate leaves with an odd number of asymmetrical leaflets with smooth margins, and flattened ‘wings’ between leaflets

Note; Prairie Flame Leaf Sumac have compound pinnate leaves with an odd number of nearly symmetrical leaflets with coarsely toothed margins, lacking ‘wings’ between leaflets

Note; dense terminal panicles fragrant flowers, each with five white, elongated petals arranged around a dark central disk

Note; Prairie Flame Leaf Sumac flowers have longer, thinner petals with pointed tips

Note; Smooth Flame Leaf Sumac flowers have shorter, rounded petals

Note; leaves turn a bright, dark red in the fall, remaining on the plants for some time, earning this Sumac the nick-name Flame Leaf Sumac.

Sumac, Skunk-Bush Sumac

Skunk-bush; Skunk-Bush Sumac Rhus aromatica var. flabelliformis Shinners;.  This tough, low-growing, evergreen shrub has three lobed leaves with rounded lobes (not pointed like Poison Ivy) born in an alternating pattern on thin, grey stems.  The leaves have a strong smell when crushed or cut, earning it the nick-name “Skunk-Bush”, although they do not smell remotely like skunk.  The scientific name ‘aromatica’, is more generous, though the smell is more offensive than aromatic.  Common in wooded areas of thin soil covering chalk limestone, skunk bush is nearly inconspicuous until winter, for the leaves are evergreen and the hairy fruit a dull red.  The tiny but fragrant, inconspicuous, greenish-white flowers open in mid March.  The fruit are little more than a thin, hairy skin covering a large, hard seed.  (630) 3/27 – 4/6/15; 17 no obs; 18 no obs (drupe 5/25/18); 3/25/19 (drupe 5/18/19); 20 no obs;

Skunk Bush habit; a low growing evergreen shrub with grey stems, alternating, three lobed leaves, and compact bunches of hairy, dull red berries

Note; trifoliate leaves, each leaflet with three rounded lobes, are not sharply pointed like Poison Ivy, and have a strong, offensive odor when cut or crushed

Note; tiny, inconspicuous, greenish flowers are born in short spikes from leaf axils

Note; terminal clumps of fragrant flowers open as new leaves are growing in

Note; clumps of hairy, dull red fruit, little more than thin skin covering hard seeds