River Oats, Chasmanthium latifolium, is a native, cool season grass found in moist woods and along streams in large colonies. It is also a popular landscape grass. It typically grows two to four feet tall and it has wide leaf blades that taper to a point. There is also a short hairy...
Environment Videos
Purpletop, Tridens flavus, is a native, warm season grass that can be found in savannahs, fields, and roadsides, and grows three to five feet tall. Its stems, rachis, and spikelets are covered in a thin layer of an oily substance, leading to its other common name of Grease Grass. At the...
Poverty Oat Grass, Danthonia spicata, is a cool season bunchgrass native to Illinois and found throughout the state in higher quality habitats. Poverty Oat Grass grows in bunches which are often under a foot tall. The thin leaves can be smooth or hairy, and you can find two tufts of...
Panic Grass, Dichanthelium laxiflorum, is a native, cool season grass growing in southern Illinois and a few scattered counties in central Illinois. Panic Grass forms a short bunch, staying around six to eight inches tall. Its broad leaves and leaf sheaths are densely covered in long hairs. It...
Orchard Grass, Dactylis glomerata, is a non-native cool season grass that grows in old fields, pastures, and disturbed areas. When identifying this grass, look for the open leaf sheath, as well as the tall membranous ligule. This ligule can range from white to yellow in color and what...
Nimblewill, Muhlenbergia schreberi, is a native, warm season grass typically found in slightly shaded, disturbed habitats and even in your lawn. This short grass typically stays under one foot tall, but it tends to sprawl over the ground and re-root from nodes along the stem. It has short leaves...
Johnson Grass, Sorghum halepense, is an invasive, warm season grass. It can be found in disturbed habitats in central and southern Illinois, and it can often be found in large patches since it spreads through rhizomes. This grass can grow four to seven feet tall. It has thick, glaucous stems,...
Japanese Stiltgrass, Microstegium vimineum, is an invasive, warm season annual grass. It can be found in shady, moist environments like the understory of forests and along waterways, but it can also establish in sunnier and drier areas. It is a weak-stemmed grass with short, broad...
Indian Grass, Sorghastrum nutans, is a native, warm season grass of the tallgrass prairie. It is a robust bunchgrass that can grow between four and seven feet tall. Its stems are blue-green in color which can make it stand out from the surrounding foliage, and the leaves are over a foot...
Giant Foxtail, Setaria faberi, is a non-native summer annual that can be found in every county in Illinois. It grows in disturbed habitats and it will grow between two and four feet tall. Its leaves are broad and it has a ligule made up of long white hairs. Giant Foxtail blooms in the...