King Ranch bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum)
King Ranch bluestem (KR) is a warm-season perennial bunch grass.
This introduced grass was brought to Texas from Asia and introduced to the King Ranch as a source of forage for livestock.
KR was almost the only plant available for many years for use in reseeding pastures, rangelands and thousands of miles of highway rights of way in Texas.
It has escaped from those areas to become a problematic plant for homeowners and livestock producers.
- Can out-compete many lawn grasses as well as range and pasture grasses
- Has provided many pounds of forage for livestock producers
- Has prevented soil erosion since the mid-1900s
- Is susceptible to a rust that stops leaf growth - During periods of wet, warm weather the leaves of KR will turn red with the disease and the plant will almost stop producing forage.
- Can produce thousands of pounds of high-quality forage, provided growing conditions and management allow the plant to perform - Most of the time this does not happen; KR has developed a nasty reputation for being an invader that can rapidly degrade forage conditions as well as the best manicured lawn.
- Can be controlled in bermuda grass pastures and lawns with herbicides
KR bluestem is a very controversial plant. Some people cuss it and others swear by the plant.
Editor’s note: Jeff Goodwin, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and Kent Ferguson, recently retired from NRCS, are providing us with plant identification photo stories to help ranchers identify those forbs, forages and brush species growing in the pastures. Photos are provided by the authors.
King Ranch Bluestem is excerpted from the August 2014 issue of The Cattleman magazine.