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Pictured: Andropogon ternarius — the species. This variety isn’t separately illustrated.
Poaceae family

Splitbeard Bluestem (var. ternarius) Andropogon ternarius var. ternarius variety

Native

Splitbeard Bluestem (var. ternarius) is a perennial grass native to the lower 48 states.

More about this plant

Andropogon ternarius is a species of grass known by the common names split bluestem, splitbeard bluestem, silver bluestem, and paintbrush bluestem. It is native to the southeastern, east-central, and south-central parts of the United States, where it occurs from New Jersey south to Florida and west to Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 7 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Herb layer — Sits in the herb of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~11 caterpillar species

Andropogon supports ~11 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a moderate genus.

Recorded feeding on Andropogon in North America, including:

Atrytone arogos · Arogos Skipper Atrytone logan · skipper butterfly Atrytonopsis hianna · Dusted Skipper Cercyonis pegala · Common Wood Nymph Draudtia revellata · owlet moth Faronta albilinea · owlet moth
+ 8 more species →
Faronta diffusa · owlet moth Hemileuca oliviae · giant silk moth Hesperia metea · Cobweb Skipper Hesperia ottoe · Ottoe Skipper Lacinipolia meditata · The Thinker Moth Problema byssus · Byssus Skipper Spodoptera frugiperda · Fall Armyworm Moth Stereomita andropogonis · twirler moth
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (11) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[07] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[08] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[09] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[10] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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PlantKey’s data is open under CC BY-SA 4.0 — free to reuse and adapt, with attribution and the same licence. Photos keep their own per-image licence + credit (see Sources above).

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