Andropogon gerardi Vitman. Big Bluestem, Turkeyfoot. Phen: Jul-Nov. Hab: In a wide variety of habitats, usually rather dry, such as longleaf pine sandhills, glades, cliffs, and rock outcrops, in the Piedmont in woodlands, former prairie-like sites, woodlands, open forests, and river-scour grasslands, in the Mountains in glades, riverside scour areas, and rarely in grassy balds, ascending to at least 1600 m over mafic rocks (on Old Field Bald, Watauga and Ashe counties, NC). Dist: QC west to SK, south to FL and AZ and Mexico.

Origin/Endemic status: Native

Taxonomy Comments: Some favor treating A. hallii Hackel as a subspecies of A. gerardi (Wipff 1996c); I do not agree, but if that course is followed, then our eastern taxon becomes A. gerardi ssp. gerardi.

Synonymy: = G, HC, K3, K4, NY, Tat, Tx, WV; = Andropogon gerardii Vitman – Ar, C, FlGr, FNA25, GW1, Il, K1, Mi, NE, Pa, RAB, Tn, Va, W, WH3, orthographic variant; = Andropogon gerardii Vitman ssp. gerardii – ETx1, NcTx; = Andropogon provincialis Lam. – S; > Andropogon chrysocomus Nash – S13; > Andropogon furcatus Muhl. ex Willd. – S13; > Andropogon gerardi Vitman var. gerardi – F; < Andropogon gerardii Vitman – Mex; > Andropogon gerardii Vitman var. chrysocomus – F, Mo1; > Andropogon gerardii Vitman var. gerardii – Mo1; > Andropogon tennesseensis Scribn. – S13

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Wetland Indicator Status:

• Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain: FAC (name change)
• Eastern Mountains and Piedmont: FAC (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Great Plains: FACU (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Midwest: FAC (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)
• Northcentral & Northeast: FACU (taxonomic split from wetland indicator species)

Heliophily ?: 9