Two Native grasses in Bear Mountain NY

Schizachyrium scoparium

I hiked Bear Mountain in New York State in October 2019, and the most surprising discovery I made was the presence of quite a few colonies of Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium).

Schizachyrium scoparium - Little Bluestem

The species was not present within the canopy covering of the surrounding trees, but was instead found in rocky and exposed portions of the trail (blue, then white marks), which started out from near the Bear Mountain Inn and ended in the Perkins Memorial Tower.

Schizachyrium scoparium - Little Bluestem

Although most of the colonies were small and had only a single or a few specimens, there were occasional areas where S. scoparium formed a larger field. One was located bear the top end of the trail, above a rocky outcrop with a very distinctive boulder sitting precariously on its surface.

Panicum virgatum - Switch Grass

At the very top of Bear Mountain, where the impressive Perkins Memorial Tower loomed above the crowds, Little Bluestem gave way to another tallgrass prairie species, which I tentatively identified as Panicum virgatum (switchgrass).

Panicum virgatum - Switch Grass

This species was slightly taller than Little Bluestem, with open airy panicles. I did not have my macro lens with me, but I did manage to take in situ pics of the panicles, which had spikelets containing a single floret, and unequal sized glumes.

Both S. scoparium and P. virgatum were major components of  the tallgrass prairies that used to dominate the American landscape, and it was interesting to see healthy populations of these species still present in numbers here in the East Coast.