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| A little tumbling flower beetle (Mordella spp., tentative) on a spike of Buffalograss. |
As you walk along the trail, look down and you're apt to see the flower spikes of low-growing Buffalograss, a beautiful native grass with fine blades that may have more of a blue or gray tinge to them than the surrounding grasses.
A drought-resistant denizen of the shortgrass prairies of the Great Plains, Buffalograss tops out at around five inches — quite a contrast to the flashy tallgrass specimens of Big Bluestem or Indiangrass, both of which regularly reach six feet tall. It is an important food source for bison and other mammals, hence the common name, and many grasshoppers, including the Admirable Grasshopper, Syrbula admirabilis. 
What a pretty grass!
Male flowering spike of Buffalograss.
Buffalograss is generally dioecious, meaning male and female flowers are found on separate individuals. The conspicuous male flowers are held above the grass on short spikelets, which are arranged on a spike that has been described as resembling a comb or eyelash. To see the female flowers, you have to get down on the ground and look closely (so closely, perhaps, that your behavior prompts a kind passing cyclist stop to make sure you aren't in need of assistance). The seed-producing female flowers grow closer to the base of the plant, with reddish-purple styles to catch the wind-distributed pollen from those male flowers up above.
Most other grasses hold their seeds high above, making for easy distribution. Why does Buffalograss tuck theirs way down low to the ground? Some sources mention that the low profile helps prevent the seeds from being munched and destroyed by the bison and other browsers who find the grass so palatable. Other sources note that its placement encourages consumption by bison, whose digestive process helps break down the seed's coating, and deposits it in a rich bed of fertilizer.
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| Tiny, hidden female flowers of Buffalograss grow low to the ground. |
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