Grass or grass-like · Poaceae
Little bluestem
Schizachyrium scoparium · includes its varieties and subspecies
Little bluestem is recorded as native to 43 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,717 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Key facts · USDA PLANTS
Little bluestem at a glance
- Native in
- 1,717 counties, across 43 states and territories
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b PLANTS minimum temperature −38°F
- Mature height
- 3 ft PLANTS mature height
- Light and water
- Full sun (shade-intolerant) Low water use
Estimated cold hardiness: zone 3b. PLANTS gives a minimum temperature of −38°F; zone 3b winters bottom out at −35°F, the coldest half-zone that stays within that limit.
Little bluestem is recorded as native to 43 states and territories in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in 1,717 counties of those states by USDA PLANTS.
Counties where it is native
The 15 counties with the most ZIP codes among the 1,717 where it is listed.
Native counties by state
- Alabama 21 counties
- Arkansas 50 counties
- Colorado 24 counties
- Connecticut statewide record
- Delaware 2 counties
- District of Columbia 1 county
- Florida 49 counties
- Georgia 37 counties
- Illinois 90 counties
- Indiana 52 counties
- Iowa 45 counties
- Kansas 105 counties
- Kentucky 62 counties
- Louisiana 46 counties
- Maryland 2 counties
- Massachusetts 14 counties
- Michigan 46 counties
- Minnesota 68 counties
- Mississippi 36 counties
- Missouri 73 counties
- Montana 2 counties
- Nebraska 49 counties
- New Hampshire 9 counties
- New Jersey 20 counties
- New Mexico 32 counties
- New York 42 counties
- North Carolina 80 counties
- North Dakota 40 counties
- Ohio 69 counties
- Oklahoma 40 counties
- Pennsylvania 50 counties
- Rhode Island 3 counties
- South Carolina 40 counties
- South Dakota 28 counties
- Tennessee 50 counties
- Texas 142 counties
- Utah 7 counties
- Vermont 5 counties
- Virginia 90 counties
- Washington 2 counties
- West Virginia 23 counties
- Wisconsin 57 counties
- Wyoming 14 counties
Growing traits
Values from the PLANTS characteristics record. “Not recorded” means PLANTS has no value; nothing here is estimated except the zone.
Growth
- Growth habit
- Graminoid
- Duration
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 3 ft
- Growth rate
- Moderate
- Growth form
- Bunch
- Shape
- Erect
- Lifespan
- Long
- Active growth period
- Summer and Fall
Light and water
- Shade tolerance
- Intolerant (full sun (shade-intolerant))
- Moisture use
- Low water use
- Drought tolerance
- High
- Tolerance of waterlogged soil
- None
- Precipitation range
- 12 to 45 in per year
Soil
- Soil textures
- Coarse, medium and fine
- pH range
- 5 to 8.4
- Lime (CaCO₃) tolerance
- High
- Salinity tolerance
- None
- Fertility requirement
- Low
- Minimum root depth
- 14 in
Climate
- Minimum temperature
- −38°F
- Estimated cold hardiness
- Zone 3b and warmer
- Minimum frost-free days
- 100
- Fire tolerance
- Medium
Flowers, leaves and fruit
- Flower color
- Yellow
- Showy flowers
- No
- Bloom period
- Summer
- Foliage color
- Gray-Green
- Showy in fall
- No
- Keeps leaves
- No
- Fruit color
- Brown
Other
- Toxicity
- None
- Nitrogen fixation
- None
- Nursery availability
- Routinely Available
- Family
- Poaceae
- PLANTS symbol
- SCSC
Source & data date
- Source
- USDA NRCS PLANTS Database: county distribution records, native status and plant characteristics. CC0 (public domain dedication, per the data.gov catalog record).
- Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP): native or introduced status by state. CC BY 3.0.
- USGS US-RIIS (ver. 2.0): species listed as introduced are excluded. CC0.
- Citation
- USDA, NRCS. 2026. The PLANTS Database (https://plants.usda.gov, 11/04/2026). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC USA.
- Govaerts R. (ed.) (2026). WCVP: World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Data file dated 2026-06-04, http://sftp.kew.org/pub/data-repositories/WCVP/ (retrieved 2026-11-04). Paper: Govaerts R. et al. (2021) The World Checklist of Vascular Plants, a continuously updated resource for exploring global plant diversity. Scientific Data 8, 215.
- Data date
- Retrieved from PLANTS on November 4, 2026; WCVP data file dated June 4, 2026.
- Scope
- Schizachyrium scoparium (PLANTS symbol SCSC), including 2 varieties and subspecies folded into the species.
- Method
- A species is listed when it is recorded as native to the state in Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants and USDA PLANTS, and recorded in the county by USDA PLANTS. Species PLANTS labels both native and introduced are listed separately. Full method · All sources