Splitbeard Bluestem

Andropogon elliottii Chapm. Fl. S. U. S. 581. 1860
Andropogon clandestinus Hale; Vasejr, Grasses U. S. 19. 1883. Not ^. clandestinus Nees, 1854.
Andropogon Elliottii gracilior Hack, in DC. Monog. Phan. 6 : 415. 1889.
Sorgum Elliottii Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 791. 1891.

Andropogon ternarius Michx. Fl. Bor. Am. 1 : 57. 1803
Andropogon argenteus KH. Bot. S. C. & Ga. 1 : 148. 1816. Not ^. argenieus DC. 1813.
Andropogon argyraeus Schultes, in R. & S. Syst. Veg. Mant. 2 : 450. 1824.
Andropogon Muhlenbergianus Schultes, in R. & S. Syst. Veg. Mant. 2 : 455. 1824.
Andropogon Belvisii Desv. Opusc. 67. 1831.
Sorgum argenteum Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 790. 1891.
Andropogon argyraeus tenuis Vasey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 3 : 12. 1892.
Andropogon argyraeus tnacrus Hack.; Scribn. & Ball, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 24 : 39. 1901.
Andropogon mississippiensis Scribn. & Ball, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 24: 40. 1901.
Stems tufted, 8-12 dm. tall, about twice as long as the basal leaves, the branches in I's-S's; leaf-sheaths smooth or rough, glabrous or hirsute; blades 3 dm. long or less, up to 3 mm. wide, rough; racemes in pairs, rather stout, silvery-gray, 3-5 cm. long, long-exserted ; sessile spikelet 5-6 mm. long, about twice as long as the internodes, the first scale appressedpubescent on the nerveless intercarinal space which is usually deeply canaliculate-depressed, acuminate from about the lower third, the margins narrowly infolded, the keels densely hispid, the fourth scale with the awn 1.5-2.5 cm. long; pedicellate spikelet of a single scale, 1-3 mm. long, th^ pedicel usually a little shorter than the sessile spikelet.
Type locality : In mountains, Carolina. •
Distribution : Delaware to Missouri and Oklahoma, and south to Florida and Texas.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf s heath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence lateral or axillary, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence a panicle with digitately arranged spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches paired or digitate at a single node, Inflorescence branches paired racemes, V-shaped, Flowers bisexual, Flowers unisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets paired at rachis nodes, Spikelets in paire d units, 1 sessile, 1 pedicellate, Pedicellate spikelet rudimentary or absent, usually sterile, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets unisexual, Inflorescence disarticulating between nodes or joints of rachis, rachis fragmenting, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets falling with parts of disarticulating rachis or pedicel, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes keeled or winged, Glume surface hairy, villous or pilose, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 1 nerved, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex dentate, 2-fid, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn 1-2 cm long, Lemma awn 2-4 cm long or longer, Lemma awn from sinus of bifid apex, Lemma awn once geniculate, bent once, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.

Andropogon ternarius is a species of grass known by the common names split bluestem, splitbeard bluestem, silver bluestem, and paintbrush bluestem. It is native to the southeastern, east-central, and south-central parts of the United States, where it occurs from New Jersey south to Florida and west to Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

This perennial grass forms tufts of branching stems reaching 120 to 150 centimeters in maximum height. The inflorescence is made up of pairs of feathery racemes, each of which contains pairs of spikelets. Each pair is made up of one fertile spikelet and one sterile. The fertile spikelet has an awn up to 2.5 centimeters long. The spikelets are coated in very long, silvery hairs. In the Great Plains, the grass blooms in August through October. In the Carolinas blooming occurs in September and October and in Louisiana the grass blooms in the fall. One variety of this species, the Florida endemic var. cabanisii, has been treated as a separate species, A. cabanisii.

This grass grows in pine and oak forests and on prairie. It is dominant in the pine savanna around the Texas-Louisiana border. It grows in disturbed habitat types such as grazed pastures, ditches, and abandoned crop fields. Old fields in the southern United States are often colonized with the grass and its relative, broomsedge (Andropogon virginicus). In the ecological succession of abandoned fields in the region, the bluestem grasses grow after various annual and perennial weeds but before pines move in to shade them out.

Cattle graze on the grass. Northern bobwhite are known to nest in bunches of it.