Buffalo Grass

The stems spread extensively over the ground surface, regularly producing roots (i.e. adventitious roots) at their joints (i.e. nodes). Short upright (i.e. erect or ascending) flowering stems (i.e. culms) are also produced off of these creeping stems (i.e. stolons). The stems are usually green, hairless (i.e. glabrous), and are often somewhat flattened (i.e. compressed). The leaves consist of a leaf sheath, which partially encloses the stem, and a spreading leaf blade. These leaves are alternately arranged along the stems, but may sometimes appear almost paired (i.e. sub-opposite) where the stem joints (i.e. nodes) are very close together. The leaf sheaths (3-6 cm long) are mostly hairless (i.e. glabrous), except for some long hairs near where they join to the leaf blade. They are folded and are usually pale green or whitish towards the base. Where the leaf sheath joins to the leaf blade there is a line of short hairs (i.e. ciliate ligule) about 0.5 mm long. The leaf blades are folded when young, but may be flat or remain folded when they are mature. These leaf blades (2-30 cm long and 3-12 mm wide) have entire margins and, unlike most grasses, they usually have rounded tips (i.e. obtuse apices).

The seed-heads consist of a broad, flattened, stalk (3-15 cm long) with several very short clusters (i.e. racemes) of flower spikelets partially sunken into it. The flower spikelets (4-6 mm long) are hairless (i.e. glabrous) with pointed tips (i.e. acute apices). They are closely appressed to the main stalk (i.e. rachis), and are borne on smaller stalks (i.e. pedicels) 2-4 mm long. Each flower spikelet consists of a pair of floral bracts (i.e. glumes), one of which is much smaller than the other (i.e. lower glume 0.5-2 mm long and upper glume 4-6 mm long), and two tiny flowers (i.e. florets). The two florets have a pair of bracts (i.e. a lemma and palea), the lower being sterile or having only male flower parts (i.e. three stamens) while the upper also has an ovary and a feathery two-branched stigma. The 'seeds' (i.e. grains or caryopses) are dark brown, egg-shaped (i.e. ovoid), and about 1.5 mm long. They are shed from the seed-head still contained within the old flower spikelets.

Buffalo grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum) reproduces by seed and also vegetatively via its creeping stems.This species is often spread to new areas through its cultivation as a lawn and turf grass. Seeds and stem segments are dispersed in dumped garden waste, and may also be spread by water, animals and vehicles.