| Section 5 » Family Poaceae |
Show/Hide Synonym
| taxonName | relationship | relatedTaxonName | relatedTaxonRefText | relComments |
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| Andropogon hirsutior | = | Andropogon glomeratus var. hirsutior | Flora of North America (1993b, 1997, 2000, 2002a, 2002b, 2003a, 2004b, 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2006c, 2007a, 2009, 2010) | | | Andropogon hirsutior | = | Andropogon glomeratus var. hirsutior | Kartesz (1999) | | | Andropogon hirsutior | = | Andropogon glomeratus var. hirsutior | Flora of Virginia | | | Andropogon hirsutior | = | Andropogon glomeratus var. hirsutior | Wunderlin & Hansen Flora of Florida (3) | | | Andropogon hirsutior | = | Andropogon glomeratus var. hirsutior | Weakley et al. (2011)=Y. Key adapted in part from Z. | | | Andropogon hirsutior | < | Andropogon virginicus | Radford, Ahles, and Bell (1968) | | | Andropogon hirsutior | ? | Andropogon virginicus var. glaucopsis | Gleason (1952) | , misapplied | | Andropogon hirsutior | = | Andropogon virginicus var. hirsutior | | | | Andropogon hirsutior | < | Andropogon glomeratus | Hitchcock & Chase (Manual of US Grasses) | | | Andropogon hirsutior | < | Andropogon glomeratus | Small (1933, 1938) | | | Andropogon hirsutior | < | Andropogon glomeratus | | | | Source: Weakley's Flora |
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| Author | (Hackel) Weakley & LeBlond | |
| Distribution | Sandhills and Coastal Plain, barely into the edge of the Piedmont; absent from the Outer Banks.
Coastal Plain, eastern MD to central FL and southeastern LA. | |
| Abundance | Perhaps frequent in the Sandhills and southern Coastal Plain, and uncommon (likely) in the northern and central Coastal Plain. The NCNHP's State Rank of S5 is too liberal/generous; S3S4 is more accurate. | |
| Habitat | Moist to wet pine savannas and flatwoods, blackwater streamhead ecotones, pitcher-plant seepages, moist clearings in Longleaf Pine stands, margins of peaty pocosins, margins of beaver ponds. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting September-October. | |
| Identification | Hairy Bluestem is tall and robust, mostly 4-5.5 feet. It is much like Chalky Bluestem (A. cretaceus), and has a similarly elongate inflorescence, but Hairy Bluestem lacks any glaucous (pale green or blue-green) tint to the stems and leaves. The leaf blades are usually pubescent, but not always, whereas the leaves of Chalky Bluestem are smooth. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Anatherum hirsutius (Hackel) Weakley & LeBlond is a recently named synonym published in 2023 by Vorontsova et al. In older texts taxon hirsutior was lumped within A. glomeratus, and before that it and many others were included within A. virginicus (broad sense).
While the genus Andropogon is quite easy to recognize in the field, ID of species is not so easy and there are no shortcuts. Readers are strongly advised to read the introductory paragraphs in Weakley (2025) and to use his key. Once one has successfully keyed out several species, or compared collections with verified specimens, one can learn to recognize them in the field.
In 2023 Vorontsova et al. published a paper (click on our References tab) in which they split off Anatherum from Andropogon. Most of the former are found in the Americas and Africa. For now, until the dust settles, the NCVP taxon editors will provide the new names in Anatherum as synonyms of the traditional Andropogon. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | Savanna Bushy Bluestem | |
| State Rank | S5 [S3S4] | |
| Global Rank | G5T5 [G5] | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACW link |
| USACE-emp | FACW link |
