Buffalo grass (Bouteloua dactyloides) is a native, warm-season turfgrass primarily found across the Great Plains region of North America. This perennial species has adapted to arid and semi-arid prairie climates, making it a distinct choice for lawns and naturalized areas. Its overall appearance and texture are unique among common lawn grasses, offering a fine-leaved, low-maintenance alternative. Understanding its specific visual traits, including its reproductive structures, provides the clearest way to identify it.
General Appearance and Texture
Buffalo grass presents a fine, soft texture that is pleasing to the touch, distinguishing it from many coarser turf varieties. The leaves are typically a gray-green to blue-green color when the plant is healthy and actively growing during the warm season. This color often appears lighter than the deep emerald green of traditional cool-season grasses, like Kentucky bluegrass.
The grass is naturally low-growing, popular for reduced-mowing lawns. If left unmowed, the foliage usually reaches only 4 to 8 inches, but the leaves tend to curl and drape, creating a shorter visual profile. When maintained as a turf, it is typically mowed to a height of 2 to 3 inches. The individual leaf blades are narrow, measuring about 1/8 inch wide and are often slightly curly.
Distinctive Seed Heads
A defining feature of buffalo grass is its dioecious nature, meaning individual plants are either male or female, and their reproductive structures look completely different. The male flowers are borne on slender, erect stems that rise visibly above the foliage. These male flower stalks can stand 3 to 8 inches above the leaves and feature two or three small, flag-like spikes hanging down.
In contrast, the female seed structures are small, burr-like clusters found much closer to the ground, often partially hidden among the leaves. These female flowers produce the seeds and require close inspection to locate, as they do not rise on tall stalks like the male flowers. This difference in appearance is so pronounced that some turf varieties are specifically bred to be female-only to avoid the taller, more visible male pollen heads.
Growth Habit and Seasonal Color
Buffalo grass spreads by producing above-ground runners called stolons, which root at the nodes to form a dense sod. This growth habit allows the grass to spread across an area, though it is not as aggressively spreading as certain other warm-season grasses, such as Bermuda grass. This mechanism helps create a thick, durable turf that is highly resistant to erosion.
As a warm-season grass, its active growth and vibrant color occur during the warmer months, typically from late spring through early fall. The grass breaks dormancy later than cool-season types like fescue or bluegrass, but it maintains a green color throughout the heat of summer. With the first hard frost, the plant transitions into dormancy, turning a straw-colored or tan hue until the following spring.