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Sporobolus
Also called Dropseeds, Rushgrass, Dropseed And Cordgrasses, Cordgrass, Rice Grasses, Dropseeds, Cordgrasses, And Sandreeds
Sporobolus is a large genus of grasses, the dropseeds, found across most of the world, mainly in prairies, savannas and open warm-climate habitats. Most grown members are tough, drought-tolerant clumping grasses, and prairie dropseed (S. heterolepis) is the one commonly planted in gardens.
Sporobolus is a nearly cosmopolitan genus of plants in the grass family. The name Sporobolus means "seed-thrower", and is derived from Ancient Greek word σπόρος (spóros), meaning "seed", and the root of βάλλειν (bállein) "to throw", referring to the dispersion of seeds. Members of the genus are usually called dropseeds or sacaton grasses. They are typical prairie and savanna plants, occurring in other types of open habitat in warmer climates. At least one species (S. caespitosus from Saint Helena) is threatened with extinction, and another (S. durus from Ascension Island) is extinct.
Caterpillars of the small moth Bucculatrix sporobolella have only been found on alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides). The Laysan dropseed noctuid moth (Hypena laysanensis) on Laysan Island apparently became extinct with the local eradication of S. virginicus by feral rabbits. Seed-eating birds including American sparrows (genus Aimophila) feed on sacaton seeds. S. wrightii is a critical resource for Botteri's sparrow (Aimophila botterii) which at one time was extirpated from Arizona.
While some dropseeds, such as prairie dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis), make nice gardening plants, they are generally considered to make inferior pastures, but seeds of at least some species are edible and nutritious; they were used as food, for example, by the Chiricahua Apaches. Other species are reported to be used as famine foods, such as Sporobolus indicus in parts of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia, where it is known as muriy in Oromiffa.
Sporobolus schoenoides · Modest prickle grass · Sporobolus pumilus · Cordgrass · Alkali sacaton · Atlantic Cordgrass · Common Cord-grass · Prairie dropseed · Pan dropseed · West Indian Dropseed · West Indian Dropseed · Salt grass
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Sporobolus by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
