Types of Grasses in Badlands Park

Peppergrass

Lepidium or peppergrass

The Badlands National Park is home to two different types of peppergrass (Lepidium): clasping and ordinary. The plant is also sometimes called pepperweed. These are part of the mustard family. It certainly is a weedy plant, is highly invasive, and in prairies they are prone to drying up and contributing to tumbleweeds.

Blue-Eyed Grass

Blue-eyed grass

Blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) is a perennial plant and sometimes thought to be a wildflower.

Agropyron, Dactylis and Buchloe

Wheatgrass

Agropyron is a substantial genus of grasses, and several examples are present in the park. This includes five different types of wheatgrass, quackgrass and three different types of bluestems. These are tall, hardy grasses that are common throughout the park, and make excellent grazing stock for animals. Other grasses present in the park that are good for grazing animals are cocksfoot grass (Dactylis glomerata) and the famous buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides).

Distichlis, Oryzopsis, Panicum

Inland saltgrass

Inland saltgrass (Distichlis spicata) is a familiar site, as it is found almost everywhere in North America, including the Badlands. Also present is the bunchgrass species called Indian ricegrass (Oryzopsis hymenoides), which thrives in the desert shrub country and ponderosa pine lots of the park. If there is sagebrush or ponderosa pine around, Indian ricegrass will be there too. There are also the huge, 3 to 6 foot tall growths of witchgrass (Panicum capillare).

Prarie Grass?

Cordgrass

An example of prairie grass is the prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata). This might seem strange, since cordgrass usually grows in coastal marshes, but there is this variety that thrives on the more arid prairie. It is the only species in the park that bears the sobriquet "prairie" in its common name.