Alkali Sacaton
Sporobolus airoides
A fountain-shaped bunchgrass topped by airy, pink-tinged seed clouds, thriving in salty, alkaline, and seasonally wet desert flats where few grasses persist. The seed has been parched and ground into flour, historically an important famine food for the Hopi.
- Family
- Poaceae
- Type
- grass
- Lifespan
- perennial
- Height
- 3–3 ft
- Spacing
- 2–3 ft apart
- Light
- part shade
- Soil moisture
- dry, moist
- Soil pH
- neutral, alkaline
- Bloom
- June, July, August, September, October, November
- Bloom colors
- yellow
- Wildlife value
- songbirds
- Landscape uses
- specimen, border, naturalizing
- Native states
- AR, AZ, CA, CO, ID, KS, MO, MT, ND, NE, NM, NV, NY, OK, OR, SC, SD, TX, UT, WA, WY
Related native plants
More Sporobolus species
- Prairie Dropseed (Sporobolus heterolepis)
- Sand Dropseed (Sporobolus cryptandrus)
- Big Sacaton (Sporobolus wrightii)
- Mesa Dropseed (Sporobolus flexuosus)