Rattail Smutgrass (Sporobolus indicus)
Rattail smutgrass is a strongly tufted warm season bunchgrass, one of the many grasses known as “drop seeds” throughout the U.S.
This plant is an introduced species that can be found in pastures and disturbed areas in many soil types throughout the Piney woods, Gulf Coast prairies and marshes, Post Oak savannah and Blackland prairies of Texas.
- Is a narrow-leaf bunchgrass that forms a tight clump.
- Can reach a height of more than two feet in moist soil.
- Produces by seeds and tillers.
- Increases in heavily grazed or hayed pastures.
- Leaves are mostly basal, flat or folded and tapered towards the end of the flexing tip.
- Flowers from early spring through the fall and forms a long, slender seedhead.
- Produces very small seeds that become infested with a black fungus, generating the name “smutgrass”.
Rattail smutgrass is not very palatable to grazing animals and is not utilized by wildlife species; it is considered a pest by most landowners. It can become a big issue for producers and out-compete many desirable plants.
If it becomes a problem in pastures, rattail smutgrass can be controlled with a properly timed application of herbicide.
Rattail Smutgrass is excerpted from the September 2016 issue of The Cattleman magazine.
Editor’s note: Kent Ferguson, retired rangeland management specialist from USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is providing us with plant identification photo stories to help ranchers identify those forbs, forages and species growing in the pastures. Additional photos provided by USDA NRCS.