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Description

Carrizo Little Bluestem is a native, warm season, perennial bunchgrass that grows 3-6’ in height. This little bluestem variety is best adapted to the Rio Grande Plain, South Texas Sand Sheet, Gulf Coast Prairies and Marshes, and the southern reaches of Post Oak Savannah and Blackland Prairie. It performs well on a range of soil types, but best performance is typically on sand, loamy sand, or sandy loam sites. Little bluestem is a good to excellent forage seasonally for livestock, and is an important and valuable cover species for wildlife, especially as nesting cover for northern bobwhites. Little bluestem is major component of range and wildlife habitat restoration seed mixes and it is also used in energy and transportation right-of-way reclamation.

Carrizo Little Bluestem is a blend of two native populations of little bluestem developed for release by the Texas Native Seeds Program and USDA NRCS South Texas Plant Materials Center. The populations comprising the release originated from near Batesville and San Antonio respectively. Due to large variations in little bluestem plant morphology and phenology, seed from distant regions or varieties originating from plants in other regions tends to perform poorly in Southern Texas. Carrizo was developed specifically for the region, and has been extensively tested in plantings throughout South Texas with good performance observed.

Considered one of the “big 4” native prairie grasses in Texas and the Great Plains, little bluestem is one of the most desired native grasses for restoration projects. On many native prairie remnants it is the dominant native grass species.

For more information: Carrizo Little Bluestem Brochure from USDA NRCS