Introduced Forages

1. Crested wheatgrass seeding- Traditionally range has been defined so as to include grazing lands that were reseeded to non-native (= introduced) plants that are managed as if they are native (or naturalized) species and manipulated more by extensive ecological inputs, especially grazing management, than by intensive agronomic methods. The case exemplar for this inclusion of introduced species into the category of range plants and native grazinggrounds was probably the reseeeding of abandoned crop land in the Northern Great Plants and Intermountain Region of North America to the Eurasian bunchgrasses known as crested wheatgrass (Agropyron desertorum and A. cristatum).Crested wheatgrass was introduced from Russia and Siberia and used to reseed "go-back land" (abandoned farm land undergoing secondary succession) and marginal crop fields during the first third of the Twentieth Century. These are still, acreage- wise, the major introduced range plants in North America. This is the Berger Tract of crested wheatgrass south of Twin Falls Idaho. It was primarily desert crested wheatgrass (A. desertorum). October.

No FRES or Kuchler designation because this is not native or potential natural vegetation. (Refer to Literature Review for the limitations of limiting the designation of range strictly to indigenous species.) SRM 614 (Crested Wheatgrass). It should be remembered that some of native range plants do return by secondary succession to lands reseeded to crested wheatgrass. This is especially the case for shrubs like big sagebrush (shown here invading what was once likely a bluebunch wheatgrass-big sagebrush shrub steppe). Rabbitbrush, greasewood, and horsebrush are other examples of the inevitable invasion of woody plants into grasslands in absence of recurrent fire. These shrubs make important contributions to animal diets and they should be recognized as part of the potential natural vegetation (that is, of course, at population levels below those on ecologically deteriorated ranges caused by past cultivation, overgrazing, underburning, etc.).

5.   Stand of immature crested wheatgrass ( mostly A. cristatum)- Crested wheatgrass at the phonological stage known as the boot stage. This is the stage of growth in grasses and grasslike plants when the inflorescence is enclosed in the sheath of the uppermost leaf (all editions of Forages as for eg. Barnes et al., 1995, p. 488). This is often the phenological stage at which herbage or forage (biomass) yield and nutritive value or content (ie. nutrient yield) are at optimum levels, and with respect to each other. Crested wheatgrass is clearly not up to the standard of wheat pasture, but it is good quality by most range (and tame pasture) standards. This example demonstrates why this extraordinary introduced range grass has been so widely planted and how it can complement native range and increase ranch productivity and profitability. Flying D Ranch, Gallatin County, Montana. June. SRM 614 (Crested Wheatgrass).

6.  Crested wheatgrass (mostly A. cristatum) pasture at peak standing crop- This photograph was taken on the same day as the preceding slide, but here on this shallower, more upland land (a bench) crested wheatgrass has advanced to maturity at an earlier date and in this drier than typical spring. (Note the dried, mature seed stalks.) On this less fertile and mesic site this introduced Eurasian grass will continue to survive (including, of course, to reproduce) as naturalized range and serve as what local ranchers call “dryland pasture”. (Compare to irrigated pasture on flood meadow three slides below.)

As mentioned for the previous slide, crested wheatgrass does not produce the highest quality grass forage imaginable. Yet, as evidenced by these registered Line One Herefords, diets from crested wheatgrass range are adequate for phenotypic expression of the genetic potential of high performing grazing animals. 

No FRES or Kuchler designation. SRM 614 (Crested Wheatgrass). Cooper Hereford Ranch, Gallatin County, Montana. June.

Alfalfa is one of man’s most important agronomic forage legumes, especially as a hay crop. Most cultivars of  common alfalfa (M. sativa) can be grown without irrigation only in sub-humid or wetter regions. There are a few alfalfa cultivars that have been selected for dryland agriculture in semi-arid regions. These are generally either M. sativa X  M. falcata  hybrids or M.  falcata selections. Ladak is one of the latter which holds some promise for seeded range. Gallatin, County, Montana. June.

Alfalfa, like the other major agronomic legumes, is a member of the Papilionoideae (= Faboideae) subfamily). Papilionaceous legumes have a corolla consisting of five petals: the largest is a single petal known as the standard or banner, two central petals fused as the keel, and two “side” (lateral) petals known as wings. The major agronomically important nodulated legumes— those entering into mutualistic symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing bacteria like Rhizobia species which form nodules on the host roots— are all in this subfamily, the Papilionoideae.

11. Desert crested wheatgrass (Agropyron desertorum) range- Desert crested wheatgrass instead of "regular" crested wheatgrass is grown in drier areas to which this group of Eurasian perennial bunchgrasses is adapted. This desert crested wheatgrass stand was planted in the High Lava Plains province (Franklin and Dyrness, 1973, p.6) of southcentral Oregon. The native Wyoming big sagebrush had re-established from the soil seedbank in this seeded single-species stand of naturalized bunchgrass to provide an outstanding example of the "right blend" of crested wheatgrass and big sagebrush. Physiognomy, structure, and species composition of this naturalized range was "danged near perfect".

Harney County, Oregon. June. Estival aspect; peak standing crop. No FRES number or Kuchler unit for this non-native (but naturalized) range cover type. SRM 614 (Crested Wheatgrass).

12. Naturalized range of desert crested wheatgrass- These two views of the same range (a different range from that presented in the preceding photogarph) that developed from a seeding of desert crested wheatgrass provided the student with an all-inclusive picture of "the way a crested wheatgrass range should look". The single-species stand of this Eurasian bunchgrass had been invaded by scattered plants of Wyoming big sagebrush resulting in the species composition, community structure, and, consequently, proper ecosystem function of one of the single most important and valuable cover types of rangeland in parts of the Northern Great Plains and Intermountain Region of North America.

At various points in this publication beginning students in Range Management have been advised to familarize themselves with the classification of grazing lands based on longevity or duration of pasture developed by Vallentine (2001, ps. 7-13). Vallentine's treatment was comprehensive and covered all grazing lands, both natural or native and introduced or agronomic pasture (a dichotomy that Vallentine [2001, ps.7, related 15-16] showed to be unreliable for certain uses). The Vallentine classification of grazing lands is, in the current author's experience, the most reliable, comprehensive, and useful of any other such treatment of grazing lands (= grazinglands as one word, if the reader prefers).

In the comprehensive, pasture longevity-based system of Vallentine (2001, ps. 7-13) crested wheatgrass grazing land falls under the categories of "long-term grazing land (synonym range), seeded range (introduced species)". Simply put, crested wheatgrass is introduced range. In fact, crested wheatgrass was probably the single most common example of why the term range was first officially defined by the American Society of Range Management (Huss, 1964) to include "... lands that are revegetated naturally or artificially to provide forage cover that is managed like native vegetation".

Technical note on syntax of the language: It is redundant and affected usage to use the words "native range" except in context of drawing the clear distinction between native range vs. introduced range where the latter is the shortened version of the Vallentine (2001, p. 8) term of "seeded range (introduced species)". If one is comparing or distinguishing between range made up of seded introduced species and range comprised of seeded native species or contrasting seeded introduced range to native (non-seeded) range, the use of native range is quite appropariate. Otherwise it is inappropriate and marks one as a novice, pedant or greenhorn. For example, to speak of sagebrush steppe or tallgrass prairie as "native range" without contrast or comparison to, say, crested wheatgrass range or weeping lovegrass (Eragroistic curvula) range is stilted, redundant, and unnecessary verbage. In context of the latter examples, the foolish use of "native range" is the equivalent of describing livestock as "domestic livestock" (without contrast to feral livetock). Use the language of our discipline and profession properly so as to foster respect for them, or do not use our "lingo" at all.

Crested wheatgrass (both A. desertorum and A. cristatum) have proven to be some of the useful non-domesticated plants introduced into North America. These two species have been shown time and again to be invaluable for soil and water conservation and wildlife habitat (feed and cover) as well as in provision of forage for livestock.

Harney County, Oregon. June. Estival aspect;

13. Individual plants of desert crested wheatgrass (Agropyron desertorum)- These two robust and ungrazed specimens of desert crested wheatgrass provided examples their species and illustrated cespitose morphology of bunchgrasses in general.

Once individual plants have developed to this stage of maturity and have aquired this extreme degree of rank growth they are no longer palatable to grazing animals (unless animals are feeling severe "hunger pangs" if not suffering from "holler belly"). These two grass plants were chosen from ungrazed areas to give viewers "purple ribbon" textbook examples of this species. In a grazed pasture an individual such as either of these "grand champions" is known as a wolf plant: "1) an individual plant that is generally considered palatable, but is not grazed by livestock, 2) an isolated plant growing to extraordinary size, usually from lack of competition or utilization" (Bedell, 1989).

Harney County, Oregon. June. Peak standing crop; soft-seed phenological stage.

14. Spikes of desert crested wheatgrass- Inflorescences of grasses in the Tritaceae or, also, Hordeae (wheat or barley tribe) have inflorescences known as spikes which are distinguished by having spikelets sessile (without a pedicel or short "stalk") on the rachis (central axis of a grass inflorescence).

Harney County, Oregon. June. Soft-seed phenological stage.

15. Desert crested wheatgrass in Intermountain Region- Seeding of desert crested wheatgrass on an old field (abandoned cropland) in the Great Basin. Exact agricultural, especially agronomic, history of this land was largely lost to time except for local oral tradtion which was rapidly diminishing. A would-be grain grower undoubtedly broke out this land on which virgin vegetation was probably some form of sagebrush shrub steppe with Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis), wheatgrasses, including western wheatgrass (Agropyron smithii), galleta (Hilaria jamesii), needle-and-thread- (Stipa comata), and Indian ricegrass (Oryzopsis hymenoides). Following abandonment or reverting to Public Domain (probably failure to "prove up" on the homestead) the devasted land was reseeded to the Eurasian desert crested wheatgrass.

This reseeded range was used as an example of countless thousands of acres of land that went from virgin range to vanished dreams of the family farm (on land hardly more than desert) back to introduced range.

Juab County, Utah. Bureau of Land Management, Fillmore Field Office. June.

16. Mixed seeding of introduced range- A mixed seeding of desert crested wheatgrass and intermediate wheatgrass (Agropyron intermedium) on depleted range. Range vegetation on this Great Basin land had been extremely degraded by past improper mamagement that most likely was a combination of uses including attempted production of field crops such as small grains. By reseeding and judicious grazing management this naturalized range vegetation was what Vallentine (2001, p. 8) classified as Seeded Range (Introduced Species), one kind or category of Long-term Grazing Lands. With proper management this crested wheatgrass-intermediate wheatgrass introduced range will produce plentiful forage for livestock and wildlife indefinitely as well as protecting previously abused land.

Juab County, Utah. Bureau of Land Management, Fillmore Field Office. June.

17. Outstanding habitat on an old seeding- Two views of an extremely old seeding (perhaps past the half century mark) of desert crested wheatgrass on which Wyoming big sagebrush invaded. This is the stage of vegetation development on introduced range like crested wheatgrass that is ideal for multi-animal species use (ie. common grazing by several species of range animal). Re-establishment (invasion) of big sagebrush by secondary succession added the proper cover and density of a desirable native range shrub that can now provide browse for big games species like pronghorn and mule deer and cover for shade and nesting space by various bird species.

Big sagebrush at this relative proportion will have minimal influence on crested wheatgrass yield and cattle or sheep gains. It does provides valuable browse for wildlife that consume proportionately more biomass from woody plants than do grass-preferring cattle. The scattered plants of big sagebrush trap blowing snow which upon melting increases soil moisture that benefits grass as well as sagebrush. Big sagebrush retains most of its leaves during winter which serve as browse for various species including native ruminants and even sheep. Under conditions of heavy snow accumulation sagebrush is a source of emergency feed.

If and when big sagebrush cover becomes excessive, prescribed fire of the proper regime (season, intensity, etc.) or simple application of herbicide like 2,4-D can be used to reduce sagebrush to a more desirable density, cover, age of plants, etc. Care must be taken when using prescribed fire or too much sagebrush can be killed and cheatgrass increased to excessive quantities. Management is key and management means proper action.

Juab County, Utah. June.

18. Intermediate wheatgrass (Agropyron intermedium)- This is another Eurasian species that was introduced and subsequently naturalized, at least locally, across much of the northern portion of the Western Range. At phenological stages below maturity intrmediate wheatgrass produces high yields of good to excellent quality forage. Intermediate wheatgrass has been seeded as a single species, much like crested wheatgrass, as well as a component species of range reseeding mixtures. Like crested wheatgrass, intermediate wheatgrass is also valuable for native ruminants. This demonstrated fact has sometimes been often overlooked by detractors who decry seeding of non-native species and establishment of monocultures (= single-species stands). In the author's observation intermediate wheatgrass has been nowhere as "successful" on the Western Range as have the crested wheatgrass species.

Lincoln County, Colorado. June.

20. Plants of intermediate wheatgrass- Four plants (genetic individuals) of the cespitose intermediate wheatgrass were growing on this reseeded landing of a ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forest. Following selective logging of the uneven-age forest intermediate wheatgrass volunteered on local parts of the understorey. The landing and logging trails were apparently reseeded to this introduced species.

Ochoco National Forest, Wheeler County, Oregon. June.

22. Intermediate wheatgrass in the Palouse Prairie Region- A former native bunchgrass steppe in heart of the Palouse Hills was converted into this dry-land pasture of intermediate wheatgrass with substantially greater grazing capacity. Another melanchology instance of what Charlie Russell dubbed "Trails Plowed Under" as the native grassland gave way to more agriculturally productive --and profitable-- tame (ie. agronomic) pasture.At least it was still grazing land. Furthermore, in this instance the introduced forage grass provided complementary pasture for adjoining cropland also used for grazing (eg. small grains pasture, crop aftermath) or harvested forage (primarily hay) along with some scattered remnants of Palouse Prairie range.

This was also an example of wise and efficient use of water. This tame pasture was being managed strictly as a rain-fed forage crop even though this field was bottomland with fertile soil such that domesticated, high-yielding crops would respond faovrably (physiologically if not profitably) to irrigation. In such a grassland agriculture management system limited water and expensive fossil fuels could be used to greater advantage on other fields for other crop species. Utilization of fields like this for higher-producing agronomic forages also enabled puirebred beef cattle to express their genetic potential which could then be evaluated. Such evaluation for genetic potential (eg. progeny testing for economically important traits) would not be possible (at least not to such extent) on natural pastures like the very limited remaining Palouse Prairie range that in such a fertile area was limited to steeper or rougher land which was marginal for field crops like small crops and oil seeds. An example of wise use management of financial and cultural resources as well as natural resources.

Whitman County, Washington. June, early hard dough stage of grain.

25. Pasture of Jose tall wheatgrass (Agropyron elongatum c. Jose)- A seeding of Jose tall wheatgrass grown as tame pasture and used as complementary pasture to a range-based cattle operation. This single-species stand was growing on land that was naturally subirrigated (the soil profile is adjacent or close to a very shallow surface aquifer; often accompanied by capillary flow from streams flowing in close proximity, as in the case shown here where eastern cottonwood trees indicte presence of such stream). This photograph was taken in 2002 during the most extreme drought in Colorado history. No precipitation fell during this growing season. Instead all soil moisture was from that stored in soil and attributable to subirrigation.

Tall wheatgrass is another introduced (from Eurasia) domestic grass species. It does particularily well in the Great Plains (from New Mexico to Canada) where it is often grown under irrigation and produces high herbage yields. This is probably the largest and latest-maturing of the introduced wheatgrasses. It tends to become rank and coarse at which stage it becomes unpalatable, but as a function of it's late-maturity tall wheatgrass has a longer green-feed period. For these reasons tall wheatgrass is more commonly planted and managed as a single-species stands (monocultures) rather than in mixtured seedings (polycultures). Consistent with it's height and general large size, tall wheatgrass has vast, deeply penetrating root systems tht contribute to its' general drought tolerance (see slide again). It also does well or alkaline and/or saline sites, a feature which makes it adapted to flood plains in semiarid climates.

Beef producers have to "stay on top of" tall wheatgrass. This species is less tolerant of oversue than most wheatgrasses , but if it is not kept grazed to a height and state of maturity that is palatable to cattle tall wheatgrass "gets ahead of" the stock and their performance will suffer as forage intakes drop precipituously.

One of the amusing (at least to this author) academic aspects of tall wheatgrass is the "muscial chairs" gyrations performed by agrostologists in regards the scientific name of tall wheatgrass. In each of the last editions of the Iowa State classic text, Forages, the simple common name of tall wheatgrass was shown as Agypyron elongatum (1973), Elytrigia pontica (1985), and Thinopyrum ponticum (1995). Maybe such name changes are beneficial, sort of like fashion changes in neck ties and hemlines. They keep professors from becoming "stale". Is this an example of "continuing education"? Rangemen have to re-learn scientific names so they will know the correct answer in case there becomes a game, The Range of the Trivial. Then knowing the latest species name for tall wheatgrass would be about as important as knowing the name of Tonto's or Dale Evans' horse. Scout and Buttermilk (I can handle those).

28. Quackgrass, quichgrass, or couchgrass (Agropyron repens= Elytrigia repens)- Quackgrass is another of the introduced Eurasian wheatgrasses. According to various authors in Iowa State's Forages text the historical details regarding introduction of quackgrass remain obscure. It was introduced into North America prior to the Revolutionary War. Quackgrass is now one of the most widely distributed species of the wheatgrass group being found on every continent.

The situation regarding quackgrass is similar to that of other introduced grasses which in numerous locations became more important as weeds than beneficial crops. Quackgrass is in this respect the "Johnsongrass of the north". Other introduced grasses that have these ruderal (naturalized) and noxious (plant pest; weed) aspects include (though generally to a lesser degree of noxiousness) Kentucky bluegrass, bahiagrass, bermudagrass, tall fescue, and King Ranch bluestem. Quackgrass has naturalized in North America from parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas far into the Canadian provinces. Quackgrass is especially noxious in the northern United States and Canada where it is particularily aggressive and persistent. In fact, quackgrass is probably the worst (or next to the worst) weed in much of this vast region.

While understanding the weediness of quakegrass and farmers antipathy toward it, many forage specialists have consistently pointed to the highly desirable features of quakegrass as a forage crop, especially under minimal input management. For instance, authors in Forages (beginning in 1951) consistently acknowledged the benefits of quackgrass while pointing out that control of it as a weed was not as serious a problem as it once was. Authors in recent editions of Forages pointed out that quackgrass, though a weed, was so well-adapted to habitats in the far north that it was now one of the major grazed and harvested forages in Alaska. Pieper (1939, ps. 249-250) remarked that much of the hay in New England that was alleged to be timothy was "in reality quack grass". He concluded: "While quack grass is one of the worst weeds with which a farmer has to contend, this fact should not obsucre the merits which the plant really possesses".

One of the most recent and promishing practices in wheatgrass breeding was development of interspecific hybrids. Quackgrass was one of the major parental species in this effort, in particular for hybridization with bluebunch wheatgrass and crested wheatgrass. One such cross was the quackgrass x tetraploid bluebunch wheatgrass hybrid. In 1981 two of these synthetic hybrids were released jointly by the Agricultural Research Service and the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station (Asay and Dewey, 1981). In 1989, the cultivar NewHy wheatgrass (Agropyron spicatum x repens= Pseudoroegneria spicata x Elytrigia repens) that was developed from this breeding program was released. Like the hybrid equine, the mule, this Agropyron hybrid combined desirable traits of both species in a single new organism with the increased performance due to heterosis ("hybrid vigor"). With the drought tolerance and high palatability of the native bluebunch wheatgrass combined with the grazing tolerance of quackgrass-- and exhibiting heterosis-- NewHy excels in all three traits. NewHy has proven to especially well-adapted to harsh habitats such as saline environments. It holds potential for use in reclamation. Such developments have proven over and over the wisdom of the tongue-in-cheek remark of Ralph Waldo Emerson, "A weed is a plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered".

The more common importance of quackgrass is as a naturalized range plant in the northern portions of North America. For example, in northeastern North America much of the original forest land is now used primarily as naturalized range. These were cut-over forests that are undergoing secondary succession, but on which introduced pasture species like quackgrass, timothy, orchardgrass, redtop and bentgrasses (Agrostis species) naturalized and, for the forseeable future, provide a grazable resource. In it's National Range and Pasture Handbook the Natural Resources Conservation Service (1997, ps. 2-3, 5.1-21) described such grazing lands as native and naturalized pasture. It was not completely clear how some of these grazing lands differed from permanent forest range, but cut-over forestland not being managed (at least not intensely) by forest management practices and used primarily for grazable/ browsable understorey appeared to this author to pretty much catch the spirit of this category of grazing land.

"Naturalized pasture is land that was forest land in historic climax, but is being managed primarily for the production of forage rather than the production of wood products. It is managed for forage production with only the application of grazing management principles. The absence of the application of fertilizer, lime, and other agronomic type practices distinguish this land use from pasture." (Natural Resources Conservation Service, 1997, p. 5.1-21).

In other words, this form or category of pasture or grazingland is essentially naturalized forest range (ie. the range portion-- the grazable understorey-- is dominated by introduced and now naturalized species). On such naturalized range (naturalized grazingland) in more northern portions, especially in the eastern half of North America, quackgrass is a dominant species. Quackgrass was included here from that perspective as well as it's recent contributions to wheatgrass breeding.

The quackgrass shown in these two slides was in the soft-dough stage. It formed exclusive stands in bar ditchs and fencerows in the fashion typical over much of the geographic regions to which it has naturalized. This quackgrass was too mature to make good-quality hay, but when quackgrass is cut in the boot stage it will produce high yields of high-quality grass hay.

Agriculture Canada Research Centre, Lethbridge, Alberta. July.

30. Rootcrown (proaxis) and rhizomes of quackgrass- The rootcrown as used in Agrsotology is that general part of the grass plant where the shoot and root merge. It is not necessarily a union in the sense that the ligule-collar is the union of leaf blade and sheath, but it is a distinctive morphological part and the one from which much of grass growth is initiated. Tillers (known also, and in less technical terms, as suckers or stools) emanate from the proaxis. This is more true for cespitose species (bunchgrasses) than for sod-forming grasses, but rootcrowns are central growth regions in all grasses and grasslike plants. Some grasses reproduce asexually from (by) both tillers and rhizomes, by stolons, or by all threee main forms of secondary shoots). Quackgrass has rhizomes as well as a conspicuous rootcrown. Both of these organs were shown in this slide.

Asexual reproduction by rhizomes traditionally was the explanation given for the aggressiveness and persistence of quackgrass, and thus the main factor in it's noxious (extremely weedy) characteristic. A rangeman or grazier who cherishes quackgrass for it's high yield of nutritious forage can turn that fact around and point out that rhizomes are the main reason why quackgrass is so valuable as a naturalized forage species. Numerous authors such as Pieper (1939, p. 250) pointed out that quackgrass rhizomes have been harvested and fed as if hay which allegedly rivaled in nutritive value the better legume hays. Rhizomatous grasses like quackgrass and Johnsongrass usually benefit (improved stand maintenance as well as increased herbage yields) from some form of soil tillage. In other words, cultivation is not a control method for rhizomatous weeds. Excessively heavy grazing is a more effective method of control. The lesson for grassmen is to be certain to practice sound grazing mangement of rhizomatous grasses like quackgrass or they will be grazed out.

Provencial Prison grounds, Lethbridge, Alberta. July.

This smooth bromegrass seeding in Harvey Valley, Lassen National Forest, California was used to restore depleted range more efficiently and with less risk of crop failure than if attempting to reestablish native grass species such as bluebunch wheatgrass or Idaho fescue. In such situations smooth brome provides vital vegetative cover faster and more reliably than native species and is superior in reduction of accelerated erosion and protection of critical watersheds. It not only provides nutritious forage for both livestock and wildlife but it can actually increase forage (and total nutrient) yield and, ultimately, animal turn-off. Note that as with crested wheatgrass, native shrubs (eg. the sagebrush growing here) come in on range reseeded to introduced grasses and help form a range plant community in contrast to the monocultures or single-species stands of agronomic pastures. Again, as this is not native (potential natural or climax) vegetation it has neither FRES nor Kuchler unit recognition. No SRM designation either.

33. Grazing land type conversion: from small grains to smooth brome- On this steep, rolling, highly eroidable land in the Palouse Hills a native bluebunch wheatgrass (Agropyron spicatum)-Idaho fescue (Festuca idahoensis) bunchgrass prairie was converted into a crop field that was used for production of various crops like wheat (Triticum aestivum) and lentils (Lentilla lens) before it was restored to the soil-protecting cover of perennial grass produced by smooth brome. This monoculture stand had remarkably little cover of cheatgrass or other introduced Eurasian forage grasses that have been widely planted in this area (some of which were covered below). It provided a good example of smooth bromegrass forage at its best. This stand was being grazed when the photograph was taken. It had been used alterntively for hay or pasture.

Latah County, Idaho, June (early summer), soft dough phenological stage.

36. Rescue grass or rescuegrass (Bromus unioloides= B. catharaticus)- Two views of rescuegrass, an introduced (from its native Argentina), short-lived perennial (that frequently responds to cultivation, grazing, or winterkill as an annual) bromegrass that has naturalized widely over the southern United States and parts of Mexico. Hitchcock and Chase (1950, p. 34), Gould (1975, p. 84), Hatch and Pluhar (1993, p. 161), and Alderson and Sharp (1995, p. 26) described rescuegrass as an annual or biennial, but other authors (including those for all editions except the sixth of Forages) interpreted this species as a short-lived perennial. Barkworth et al. (2007, ps. 199-201) distinguished between Bromus catharticus var catharticus, an annual or biennial, and B. catharticus var. elatus, a perennial. (Incidentially, readers will note that the experts still cannot agree on the proper specific epithet for this species: they have gone back and forth between unioloides and catharaticus for decades.)

Rescuegrass was one of the first Bromus species that was intentionally introduced into North America. It is also one of the few introduced bromes that is not Eurasian or Old World in origin. Based on official or documentable records rescuegrass was introduced into North America in 1853 and widely advertised by B.V. Iverson of Columbus, Georgia who is also credited with giving this species the American English name of rescuegrass (Piper, 1939, p. 279). However, according to the first edition of Forages (Bennett in Hughes et al. 1951, p. 374), and apparently later quoted from this source by Phillips Petroleum Company (1963, p. 22) and Nicholson (2006, p. 22), this species was first identified in the United States in 1806. Regardless, rescuegrass has 1) been on North American soil for over two and a half centuries and 2) naturalized over a large geographic area much like the various species of annual Eurasian bromes. In fact, B. unioloides often grows from autumn through early to mid spring in association with naturalized B. japonicus and B. tectorum throughout much of the southeastern and southcentral regions of North America. (This was described in more detail three paragraphs below.)

The agronomic "state of affairs" of rescuegrass has been similar to that of many introduced grasses and legumes: it did not become the "wonder forage" that it was purported and hoped to be but instead naturalized so as 1) to not require management by farming practices (intensive management) and 2) persist as either a weed or less productive crop plant that is best used as an opportunistic forage. This is, of course, the common situation with such introduced species as Johnsongrass (Sorghum halepense), quackgrass (Agropyron repens) , Vaseygrass (Paspalum urvillei), bahiagrass (Paspalum notatum), white and yellow sweet clovers (Melilotus alba and M. officinalis), and sericea lespedeza (L. sericea= L. cuneata).

Nonetheless, rescuegrass does commonly live up to its name by furnishing advantageous (often fortuitous) feed, especially on overgrazed southern ranges, small subsistence and "hobby farm" pastures, and "go-back land" that might otherwise have little but warm-season invader species. Also, rescuegrass provides a relatively dependable source of forage during the cool-season (including the dead of winter in the South) when both livestock and wildlife would otherwise be forced to subsist on either harvested roughage, mature, weathered, standing, warm-season forage, or browse. It should be underscored, however, that most such producers (and their unfortunate livestock) so "rescued" were at best marginal or, more likely, poor managers and poor husbandmen of crop plants and animals.

Rescuegrass does sometimes occur as a more-or-less single species stand (= monoculture), especially on seeded pastures, but more commonly this self-seeding annual, biennial, or short-lived, perennial is one--albeit it often the dominant one--species among several associated species. Plants growing in association with rescuegrass include other naturalized, as well as adventive and native species (usually in that relative order). Plants growing on rescuegrass-dominated ranges and pastures include exotic annual or perennial grasses such as Eurasian annual bromes (noted above), wild oats (Avena fatua), ryegrass (Lolium perenne, L. multiflorum), and goatgrass (Aegilops cylindrica); native annual grasses like little barley (Hordeum pusillum); plus exotic forbs, especially annuals including crucifers like shepherd's purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) and Eurasian mustards (Brassica spp.); composites such as prickly sow-thistle (Sonchus asper), prickly lettuce (Lactuca serriola), and common groundsel (Senecio vulgaris); and the geranium family member, redstem filaree (Erodium cicutarium). Grazinglands composed of these kinds of introduced species (many or most of them weeds in both agronomic and ecological usages) in association with rescuegrass constitute medium-term transitory pasture/range at best or perhaps a form of short-term grazingland (Vallentine, 2001, ps. 11-13). Rescuegrass also grows on local habitats (microsites) characterized by disturbance within native grasslands and savannahs as well as revegetating sacrifice areas and old barnyards and in patches or more open spaces on permanent pastures of warm-season grasses as, for instance, in the cool growing season on dormant bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon). In these latter instances rescuegrass functions like an overseeded small grains crop (except that the naturalized rescuegrass is self-perpetuating).

There have been numerous cultivars and accessions of rescuegrass developed and released over the years, including some from New Zealand (Alserson and Sharp, 1995, ps. 26-28).

Overall, rescuegrass is generally more welcome than not. This species definitely does not produce toxicity problems like those of Johnsongrass and the sweet clovers or yield forage that at maturity is as low in nutritive value as that of introduced warm-season forage species or even some of the more productive, introduced cool-season grasses like tall fescue (Festuca arundinaceae).

Erath County, Texas. April, peak standing crop.

37. Shoot apices of rescuegrass- Top of shoot (first photograph) and panicle (second photograph) of rescuegrass. The inflorescence of the Bromus species is a conspicuous and usually relatively large panicle.

Erath County, Texas. April, hard-dough stage in grain.

38. Spikelets of rescuegrass- Rescuegrass is usually a prolific grain-producer. This is the necessary condition for most short-lived perennials. It also one of the likely reasons why rescuegrass can persist on grazinglands as an annual. It seemed likely that the common high yields of grain with concentrations of energy and nutrients contributed to nutritional value of animal diets on rescuegrass pasture.

Erath County, Texas. April, hard-dough stage in grain.

Tall fescue is only fair in forage nutritive value as a result of the endophytic toxins which cause detrimental effects on grazing animals (ps. 110, 348-349 in Barnes et al., 1995), but the growers who rely on it obviously accept the tradeoffs and tall fescue continues to be planted and maintained as the major cool-season permanent pasture grass in the USA.

 From the view of stockraising on ranching operations tall fescue is tame pasture that is complementary or supplementary to the range base. Naturalized or introduced range such as crested wheatgrass is also typically complementary pasture (enhances the usefulness of native pastures which provide most of the ranch’s forage needs) but this category of introduced forage is managed more extensively, more ecologically than agronomically, (ie. it is range and managed as range). By contrast tall fescue is managed more agronomically (ie. it is not range). As discussed in the introduction, however, the distinction between tame and native pasture is not always clear and can be downright arbitrary. Tall fescue under minimal management is apparently a case in point. Shiflet (1994) designated and described tall fescue as a rangeland cover type (SRM 804). It was included here in that context. Tall fescue appears to have naturalized in some areas. It is sometimes an invader of abused tallgrass prairie especially along the boundaries between fescue pastures and range or even prairie hay meadows where the cool-season bunchgrass can be particularly noxious. No FRES or Kuchler unit because it is not natural vegetation. Adair County, Oklahoma. May.

42. Naturalized in the central southland- Example of tall fescue naturalization and successful invasion in the tallgrass parairie and oak-hickory forest types in the Ozark Plateau. If this land could talk it would tell of how a former tallgrass prairie within a larger area of surrounding oak-hickory forest was overgrazed about 90 to 100 years ago in subsistence-level diary farming that resulted in invasion (expansion) of hardwood and shrub-dominated old field vegetation which was subsequently invaded by naturalized tall fescue and converted into a tall fescue grassland with broomsedge bluestem (Andropogon virginicus) as the major associate. Along the perimeter of this naturalized grassland common bermudagrass was common along with weedy and ruderal grasses such as hairy crabgrass (Digitaria sanguinalis) and goosegrass (Eleuisine indica).

This overgrazed pasture (in effect an old field or go-back land) became dominated by--in many portions almost exclusively made up of--Kentucky 31 tall fescue that volunteered from seed from an adjacent hay field and by feeding of tall fescue hay from that neighboring land. This was an example of a typical and widespread development with the result that tall fescue, especially endophyte- infected cultivars like Kentucky 31, became a major weed throughout much of the southcentral and southeastern regions of the United States such as shown here in the Ozark Plateau. When tall fescue was first being seeded throughout the Ozarks farmers and stockmen argued over whether this species would self-seed so as to "fill in the gaps" between widely spaced plants of this bunchgrass on newly planted fields. Initially, establishment of new plants from older ones established by drill seeding was not apparent and there was general agreement among producers that second, third, etc. generation plants of tall fescue was not likely. If you had a "skimpy" stand it would stay that way and reseeding was advised.

Eventually it became obvious that over course of, say, five to ten or so years tall fescue had not only "filled in the gaps" where this was desired, but that it was also spreading by seed slowly but inexorably into adjoining fields, tame pastures, and even into tallgrass prairie (especially those that had been routinely hayed late in the summer or overgrazed).Once established--by planting or natural seeding--tall fescue is--for purposes of comparison--even more persistent (considerably more persistent) than naturalized Johnsongrass. This is due to the extreme tolerance to severe overuse and general grazing mismanagement that is the "order of the day" throughout much of the vast region over which tall fescue became a defacto "king grass". This is because endophyte-infected tall fescue, unlike grazing-susceptible Johnsongrass, cannot be grazed out readily (if at all).

Tall fescue is now an established plant across landscapes in the South, for better or worse. Under conditions like that shown here the natualization of tall fescue has clearly been for the better. Tall fescue has prevented soil erosion in the southern humid zone where heavy rains possible at any time of the year can have devastating impacts on abused land. Perhaps most consistently tall fescue has provided forage--along with soil protection--where there would otherwise be little except that provided by annual grasses and unpalatable perennials like broomsedge bluestem. Across the region over which tall fescue has naturalized is probably one of the most effective means of preventing or reducing infestations of annual and biennial weedy forbs that were previously much more abundant on the "grubbed-out" land such as much of that in the Ozark Plateau . On the other hand, this latter feature was undoubtedly a big factor in reduction in populations of northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) in areas once famous for this extradinary upland game species.

Along with tolerance to abuse from grazing and trampling, tall fescue is drought-tolerant due largely to drough avoidance that is inherent with a cool-season species in the South. Tall fescue goes dormant by mid-winter and late summer so tht it naturally avoids the the two major periods of dry edaphic conditions.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Late December: early winter and still this much green feed.

43. Stand of orchardgrass (Dactylis golmerata)- Orchardgrass is another Eurasian perennial grass that was introduced into and widely planted throughout North America. Single species stands of orchardgrass such as this one are common in the central and upper Midwest. In areas of northern Missouri, Iowa, IllinoisMichigan, etc. orchardgrass (or the British, cocksfoot) is a Eurasian cool-season, perennial grass species for both pasture and hay. Orchardgrass is a important species with wide application in grassland agriculture. In his landmark book, Theory and Dynamics of Grassland Ageiculture (Harlan, 1956) described grassland agriculture: "A system of agriculture in which a major emphasis is placed on grasses, legumes, and other fodder or soil-building crops. The system may be extensive as in many natural grassland or desert shrub areas, or it may be extremely intensive. The sod crops may be permanent or simply part of a rotation. The principal feature of grassland agriculture is the dependence of the system on grass crops for soil building and animal nutrition. Grassland agriculture, is therefore, a dynamic system in which the soil, the plant , and the animal are intimately and inseparably interlocked." In Forages-The Science of Grassland Agriculture the editors defined grassland agriculture as: "Farming system that emphasizes the importance of grasses and legumes in livestock and land management" (Hughes and numerous other editors down through the years, 1962, 1973, 1985, 1995, 2003). Vallentine (1990) defined grassland agriculture as "A land management system emphasizing cultuvbated forage crops, pasture, and range for livestock [and wildlife] production and soil stability." (This definition was more inclusive than his definition in the second edition [Vallentine, 2001]).

More details of orchardgrass as a pasture and naturalized range species were preented in the immediately following caption.

Ottawa County, Oklahoma. May.

46. Subirrigated meadow seeded to Kentucky bluegrass- Poa pratensis, another member of the Festuceae or Poeae tribe of Gramineae, is one of the more valuable introduced grasses in the tame pastures of eastern North America. It makes outstanding pasture for horses and was once used to raise grass-fat cattle for eastern urban markets. Today higher-yielding introduced species like tall fescue and orchardgrass are grown instead of Kentucky bluegrass over much of its former area. On moister sites in semi-arid regions Kentucky bluegrass is still one of the most persistent introduced pasture grasses in North America. This is due primarily to its grazing tolerance and fairly aggresive spread by abundant rhizomes. In fact, with exception of tall fescue Kentucky bluegrass is the (at least one of the) most grazing-tolerant of all major cool-season pasture grasses in North America.

The bottomland mountain pasture shown here included some sedge and native grass species (eg. blue grama and western wheatgrasss), but it is overwhelmingly populated by Kentucky bluegrass. Abundant subsurface moisture is present over much of the growing season and the introduced bluegrass has persisted. Smooth bromegrass is another introduced grass that does well on moist, fertile soils, but it is not as tolerant of heavy grazing as Kentucky bluegrass. Kentucky bluegrass is a weed on overgrazed tallgrass and even mixed prairie ranges, but on sites such as the one seen here and with proper grazing Kentucky bluegrass makes a fine complement to other kinds of pasture. Teton County, Wyoming. July. No FRES, Kuchler, or SRM units.

47. Kentucky bluegrass- Exact origin of Poa pratensis has long been a matter of conjecture and confusion. The species is clearly a Eurasian species, but there is some evidence that it was also indigenous to northernmost North America. It most ceretainly was not native to southeastern North America, folklore and poetical names like Bluegrass State (hence Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys) notwithstanding. Rather, and like so many other introduced forage species, Kentucky bluegrass "hitched a ride" with pioneering western Europeans and became one more plant species frequently called "the white man's footprint". Long before the "dark and bloody ground" of Kentucky got around to the settlement state of civilization hunting shirt Kentuckians Poa pratensis had naturalized over much of the land that later became a commonwealth and star in the Union. This naturalization phenomenon was responsible for the widely and variously used designations of Bluegrass this or that in the Bluegrass State, including the Bluegrass section or Bluegrass region of the interior low plateau physiographic province (Fenneman, 1938, ps. 419, 427-431, 441).

(Incidentally, the lack of native status of Kentucky bluegrass is most appropriate for the wonderful genre of Country-Western music that bears its name: Bluegrass Music is not indigenous among Kentucky and Tennessee crooners either. It too is an adaptation [and a skillfully market one] of an import from the "old country" of the British Isles, especially Scots Irish, with colorful additions from Africa via slaves and the slave trade (eg. the banjo), Germany, and God alone knows where else.)

For a century or more Kentucky bluegrass has been one of the most widely distributed grasses in North America. Authors in the Iowa State text, Forages (Barnes et al. 1995, p. 358) indicated that this introduced perennial occurred in every state of the Union. It is likely found in all of the Canadian provinces as well. Wedin and Huff in Moser et al. (1996, ps. 668-669) concluded that Kentucky bluegrass occurred in most, if not all, regions of the Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa as well as being progagated in Australisia. Given this almost universal distribution Poa pratensis shows tremedous ecotypic variation in morphology.

The ungrazed individual see here grew on a bluff on a north slope deep in an Ozark oak-hickory forest where it made itself "to home" every bit as much as the native plants in the forest community. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. April.

49. A rank, dense stand- This stand of rank-growing Kentucky bluegrass was in the Palouse Hills where, like so many areas of North America, it has naturalized to become as much a part of the range plant community as the native bluegrasses, fescues, bromes, and wheatgrasses. In fact, under human-induced disturbances such as improper grazing (eg. improper degree and season of use), heavy traffic, or disruption of land surface Kentucky bluegrass is able to outcompete, survive longer, and, in general, thrive when and where natives "give up the grass ghosts". This phenomenon is commonplace from the Flint-Osage Hills Region through the Rocky Mountains across to the Pacific Slope and Coast Range, and on grassland, savanna,and forest.

The coarse-stemmed plants in this and the following slide indicated the size and arrangement of tillers in an ungrazed plant in contrast to the closely cropped plant presented in the preceding slide. Obviously, proper grazing management should whenever possible strive to maintain Kentucky bluegrass in the leafier and less stemmy state that has more palatable and nutritions forage than that of the coarse or rank state like the plant shown in this photograph. Conversely, if the objective is seed production (either as a commodity for the grass seed market or for reproduction to restore grass on a degraded range or pasture) the plant shown here was representative of the form or degree of plant development that is very effective for that management goal.

Latah County, Idaho. June (early summer), anthesis.

50. Shoots, vertical and horizontal- The strongly rhizomatous and abundant tillering features of Kentucky bluegrass was evident in this photograph of what was probably a single plant of this species. In addition to these vegetative means of reproduction Kentucky bluegrass is a strong seed-producer, a characteristic also evident in this plant. The combination of both effective asexual and sexual reproduction along with tolerance of close grazing makes this species a fierce competitor with native cool-season grasses, especially under conditions of range abuse like overgrazing.

This photograph also demonstrated that a single plant of this species is capable of producing considerable herbage available to grazing animals. It was explained in the preceding caption that bluegrass plants like these which have relatively high proportions of culm compared to leaf material do not provide high-quality forage like those plants with more leaves and less culm material. There is a tradeoff between herbage yield and forage quality. The objective from the perspective of range animal nutrition is to optimize yield of nutrients (not gross herbage production or maximum phytomass).

Latah County, Idaho. June (early summer), anthesis.

51. Panicles of Kentucky keep on shining- Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys should be favorably impressed with the simple beauty and prolific performance of these sexual shoots of Kentucky bluegrass at peak anthesis. These panicles were on the plants introduced in the last two slides. They were more elongated with more whorls of panicle branches than is the typical case. Panicles of Kentucky bluegrass were described by Hitchcock and Chase (1950, p. 115) as being "pyramidal or oblong-pyramidal". Most of the ones seen here were of the latter shape.

Latah County, Idaho. June (early summer), anthesis.

53. Details of Kentucky bluegrass panicle- This typical pyramid-shaped panicle of Kentucky bluegrass featured spikelets at anthesis. Hitchcock and Chase (1950, p. 115) described the lower whorl of panicle branches as being composed of five with a central long one, two short, and two intermediate length branches. There are usually three to five florets per spikelet (and a lot of spikelets per panicle branch) in this species. Poa pratensis produces abundant seed crops. It is a "survivor".

Latah County, Idaho. June (early summer), anthesis.

In California and Oregon ryegrass and tall fescue are grown as agronomic pasture species and here, too, these species “escaped cultivation” and naturalized to the extent that they are now members of the once-exclusively native range plant community on a “permanent” basis in an ecological as well as an agronomic sense. So far this is less the case in the Pacific Northwest than in the Southeastern Region.

Ryegrass pasture was included with range cover types following tall fescue because it is the species most similar to it in adaptation and extent of naturalization in what the SRM defined as the Southeastern Region (Shiflet, 1994, p. 111). No SRM designation for this one and no FRES or Kuchler units because ryegrass is not native.

 Lamar County, Texas. May. (In Texas, southern Oklahoma, and Arkansas ryegrass is perennial, or weakly perennial, so L. perenne seems the most precise species designation, but as seen in this and the next three slides Texas-grown ryegrass also produces seed-laden spikes perhaps qualifying it for L. multiflorum. Nomenclature controversy continues.)      

 The main cultural controversy for ryegrass was in California where for years it was standard practice to reseed burnt chaparral to ryegrass thereby often effecting a type conversion from shrubland to grassland, for some years anyway. This was controversial because on most of these sites California chaparral was climax or natural vegetation and the deeper-rooted shrubs were superior to grasses for watershed protection and as safeguards against massive mudslides that were apt to occur in the following rainy seasons. (Ironically, prevention of mudslides was presumedly the reason for seeding ryegrass to begin with.) The seeded grass would suppress development of seedlings and, to some extent, resprouts of chaparral species. Type conversions of brushfields or brushlands, as chaparral was often called, was an accepted practice for suitable sites, but wholesale conversion to ryegrass (or any other herbaceous species) was justly criticized until the practice was at least partly curtailed. Sampson and Jespersen (1963, ps. 21-32) discussed conversion of chaparral to grassland.

55. Perennial ryegrass (L. perenne)- Bottomland pasture of perennial ryegrass at peak standing crop (hard seed stage just prior to seed-shatter). Ryegrass at this phenological stage is long past it’s nutritional prime, but this photograph shows the high yield of herbage biomass possible from this introduced agronomic grass when after seeding and establishment it is managed solely through grazing management and as if it was native. From the Southeast, including east Texas, to the Cross Timbers and better sites of the Edwards Plateau ryegrass is outstanding complementary pasture to both natural and agronomic pastures, and it is permanent pasture or medium-term grazing lands. Ryegrass pasture like this can increase ranch cash flow and profitability, allow greater flexibility in overall ranch management, and reduce grazing on or allow winter deferment of “go-back land” range supporting cool-season natives like Texas wintergrass and Canada wildrye.

Hamilton County, Texas. May.

63. Timothy- Adult plant of common timothy at full-flower (anthesis). Drought-stunted plant that was only a fourth (or less) of normal adult height therby allowing a photograph that showed entire shoots in focus. In focus, that is in original slide. Even the best of photographers cannot be responsible for the condition of "picture perfect" after going through the "cap-and-ball" equipment and procedure of scanning as J-pegs.

Jackson County, Colorado. June.

64. Portion of timothy panicle- A close-up view of a timothy inflorescence showing spikelets. Threadlike tissues are the filaments of anthers that were beaten flat onto the panicle by recent heavy rains. Ottawa County, Oklahoma. June