bird-friendly Native Grass Guide
Featuring grasses native to Northern Nevada and the surrounding areas.
Featuring grasses native to Northern Nevada and the surrounding areas.
The table below contains a comprehensive list of grasses native to Northern Nevada and the surrounding areas. The information from this table was sourced from the National Audubon's Native Plant Finder. If you would like a list of plants more specific to your zip code, use the Native Plant Finder and input your zip code for your own list of plants.
Plants can have multiple common names but their scientific names are standardized. Some people prefer to find plants by their scientific name, while others prefer common. That is why we alternatively listed the plants each of the handouts in alphabetical order by their common name. See the list below to find plants in the guide by their scientific name.
If you would like to see pictures of each of the plant, use the .pdf guide or if you are using the web guide, click on the link at the bottom of the description for each plant.
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Grasses included in this guide: Aristida purpurea: Purple Three Awn Festuca idahoensis: Bluebunch Fescue Muhlenbergia rigens: Deergrass Sporobolus airoides: Alkali-Sacaton |
Photo Courtesy of Jeff Bleam
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Plant |
Description |
Birds Attracted |
Alkali-Sacaton (Sporobolus airoides) |
This is a medium-sized, summergrowing bunchgrass known for its tolerance of alkaline soils. It grows green, deciduous leaves near the base, reddish spikelet seedheads, and small, yellow flowers that bloom mid-summer. This bunchgrass can also tolerate drought, growing up to 3 feet tall in partial shade and moist to dry soil. Read more about this plant here |
Finches, Chickadees & Titmice, Sparrows, Nuthatches Crows & Jays, Woodpeckers, and Grosbeaks and Buntings |
Bluebunch Fescue (Festuca idahoensis) |
This perennial grass also goes by Bunchgrass Fescue and Idaho Fescue. It grows in tufts 2 1/2 feet high and 1 1/2 feet wide with blue-green to gray-green stems and flowering stalks. It is drought tolerant and does well in full sun to partial shade and rocky soils, as well as in containers Read more about this plant here |
Finches, Waxwings, Wood Warblers, Mockingbirds & Thrashers, Crows & Jays, Vireos, Orioles, Grosbeaks and Buntings, Nuthatches, Sparrows, Woodpeckers, Chickadees & Titmice |
Deergrass (Muhlenbergia rigens) |
Deergrass, also known as Meadow Muhly and Deer Muhly, is a summer-growing, perennial bunchgrass that grows to 3 by 4 feet. It produces dense, tufted foliage with narrow leaves that reach to about 3 feet in length and range from silver-green to purple. It grows in full sun and moist soils, and is highly resistant to deer. This grass attracts birds and small mammals that feed on its seeds and use its foliage for nesting and denning. Read more about this plant here |
Buntings & Grosbeaks, Chickadees & Titmice, Crows & Jays, Finches, Nuthatches, Sparrows, Woodpeckers |
Purple Three Awn (Aristida purpurea) |
This annual, deciduous grass often grows in large bunches and has attractive, purplish seed sprays. The culms of this grass grow 12 to 20 inches tall in full sun, and in dry, rocky soils. The seeds can be food for songbirds, and the plant itself can provide nesting materials for some mammals. Read more about this plant here |
Grosbeaks & Buntings, Chickadees & Titmice, Crows & Jays, Finches, Mockingbirds & Thrashers, Nuthatches, Orioles, Sparrows, Thrushes, Vireos, Waxwings, Wood Warblers, Woodpeckers, Wrens |
