• Bouteloua curtipendula (Side Oats Grama) native plant in bloom
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Bouteloua curtipendula (Side Oats Grama)

Bouteloua curtipendula (Side Oats Grama)

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Side-oats grama carries its small flower spikes along one side of the stem. Its moderate height and tolerance of dry ground suit sunny slopes with room for a grass clump.

For Bouteloua curtipendula, choose full sun and dry soil. Recorded habitats include dry to mesic prairies; Savannas; Dry woodland margins; Oak openings; Cedar glades; Rocky bluffs. Reported height: about 2–2½ ft.

Growth habit: usually forms tight bunches of stems from rhizomes; also occurs as scattered plants. Allow space for this growth between neighboring plants over several seasons, rather than spacing only for the size of a young plant.

Plant specifications & ecological relationships

Key growing facts

Sunlight Full sun
Soil moisture Dry
Height About 2–2½ ft
Bloom season Mid-summer to early fall

Native landscape companions

For full sun and dry soil, consider these native plants alongside Bouteloua curtipendula:

Companion plant Height
Old Field Goldenrod (Solidago nemoralis) About ½-2½ ft
Flowering Spurge (Euphorbia corollata) ½–3 ft
Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens) 1-3 ft
Pale Purple Coneflower (Echinacea pallida) Up to 3 ft

These landscape suggestions combine overlapping growing needs with documented plant associations. Match soil, seasonal wetness and mature spread to your site. Remnant records are described separately under Plant communities & associates.

Show / hide ▾Growing & planting details
Growth habit Usually forms tight bunches of stems from rhizomes; also occurs as scattered plants
Root form Fibrous roots; Rhizomes
Soil pH 5.5–8.5
Drought tolerance Strong drought resistance reported
Salt tolerance Low

Plant identification & seed reference

Botanical name Bouteloua curtipendula
Other common names side-oats grama
Seed germination USDA lists cold stratification as not required; seed-lot response may vary.
Plant family Poaceae
Seeds per pound — reference estimate 159200

Plant characteristics

Bouteloua curtipendula (Side Oats Grama) is one of the best native grasses for native landscaping because of its fine short stature leaves and unique orange flowers (yes I said flowers, very unique color for a grass :-)  The seed heads hang to the side looking like feed oats giving this grass its name, side oats.  

  • Flower Color green/orange
  • Flower Time August-September
Show / hide ▾Plant communities & associates

Documented Illinois communities

Mature dry sand prairie — burned

Lost Mound — Jo Daviess County, Illinois; 2005 survey.

Other native plants recorded in this survey area: Amorpha canescens, Andropogon gerardii, Anemone cylindrica, Asclepias verticillata, Asclepias viridiflora, Aster ericoides, Bouteloua hirsuta, Ceanothus americanus, Coreopsis palmata, Dalea purpurea, Eragrostis spectabilis, Helianthus occidentalis.

Selected species from the ground layer. The survey includes disturbance and succession; these records do not specify immediate neighbors or planting proportions.

Illinois plant communities

These regional accounts place this plant and the plants below in the same type of natural community. A community list does not mean that every species grew together in one plot. Use the habitat and location to understand the relationship; it is not a planting recipe.

Other regional plant communities

These plants are named with this species in published vegetation accounts. Each list keeps its community and region; some records describe a shared vegetation type rather than neighboring plants in a measured plot. They are ecological records, not a planting recipe, and may include plants unsuitable for a particular garden.

  • Grasslands, woodlands and shrublands (North American range synthesis; associations vary by region): Pseudoroegneria spicata, Pascopyrum smithii, Schizachyrium scoparium, Andropogon gerardii var. gerardii, Festuca idahoensis, Koeleria macrantha, Bouteloua gracilis, Sarcobatus vermiculatus, Cercocarpus montanus, Pinus edulis, Juniperus pinchotii, Juniperus virginiana, Juniperus monosperma, Juniperus ashei, Juniperus deppeana, Juniperus osteosperma.
  • Tallgrass prairie (North-central Texas): Bouteloua hirsuta.
  • Ponderosa-pine savanna (Western North Dakota): Bouteloua hirsuta.
  • Sandy uplands (Mixed- and tallgrass prairie range): Calamovilfa longifolia.
  • Xeric limestone prairie (Pennsylvania): Celtis occidentalis.
  • Mid-grass prairie (Great Plains): Dalea purpurea.
  • Grassland and shrub associates (Prairie region; account synthesis): Juniperus virginiana.
  • Bluestem prairie (Kansas): Rhus glabra.

North Eldred — hill prairie

Native hill-prairie stand surveyed in 1949–1951. These dated records do not establish presence today.

Other native plants recorded in this surveyed community: Amorpha canescens, Ceanothus americanus, Echinacea pallida, Euphorbia corollata, Liatris aspera, Liatris cylindracea, Lobelia spicata, Monarda fistulosa, Phlox pilosa, Physostegia virginiana.

Evers 1955, Table 14. Selected associates from the same community; records do not show immediate neighbors or prescribe planting ratios.

Valmeyer — hill prairie

Native hill-prairie stand surveyed in 1949–1951. These dated records do not establish presence today.

Other native plants recorded in this surveyed community: Amorpha canescens, Ceanothus americanus, Echinacea pallida, Euphorbia corollata, Heuchera richardsonii, Liatris aspera, Liatris cylindracea, Monarda bradburiana, Phlox pilosa, Pycnanthemum pilosum.

Evers 1955, Table 14. Selected associates from the same community; records do not show immediate neighbors or prescribe planting ratios.

Chautauqua — hill prairie

Native hill-prairie stand surveyed in 1949–1951. These dated records do not establish presence today.

Other native plants recorded in this surveyed community: Amorpha canescens, Camassia scilloides, Echinacea pallida, Euphorbia corollata, Heuchera richardsonii, Juncus dudleyi, Liatris cylindracea, Monarda fistulosa, Ruellia humilis, Silphium integrifolium.

Evers 1955, Table 14. Selected associates from the same community; records do not show immediate neighbors or prescribe planting ratios.

Show / hide ▾Native range & C-value

State nativity describes a broad range. Use the Chicago-region assessment for local context; a state listing does not establish county nativity.

Wetland indicator — Corps Chicago 2017 table UPL
C-value — Chicago region, Flora 2017 8
Chicago-region native — Flora 2017 Yes
Native range — U.S. states Alabama; Arizona; Arkansas; California; Colorado; Connecticut; Delaware; Florida; Georgia; Idaho; Illinois; Indiana; Iowa; Kansas; Kentucky; Louisiana; Maine; Maryland; Massachusetts; Michigan; Minnesota; Mississippi; Missouri; Montana; Nebraska; New Jersey; New Mexico; New York; North Carolina; North Dakota; Ohio; Oklahoma; Oregon; Pennsylvania; South Carolina; South Dakota; Tennessee; Texas; Utah; Virginia; Washington; West Virginia; Wisconsin; Wyoming
County nativity Not yet verified; occurrence records do not establish nativity.
Show / hide ▾Pollinators & wildlife

Caterpillars & other plant-feeding insects

This plant has published caterpillar host records for the butterflies and moths listed below. These are larval feeding relationships, separate from adult nectar visits. The records span a North American literature compilation and do not establish that every insect occurs locally or uses only this plant.

Butterflies & skippers

  • Amblyscirtes aenus — Bronze Roadside-Skipper
  • Amblyscirtes arizonae
  • Amblyscirtes oslari — Prairie Roadside-Skipper, Oslar's Roadside-Skipper
  • Amblyscirtes phylace — Orange-Headed Roadside-Skipper, Redhead Roadside-Skipper
  • Atrytone arogos — Arogos Skipper, Beardgrass Skipper
  • Hesperia juba — Juba Skipper, Jagged-Border Skipper
  • Hesperia viridis — Green Skipper, Black-Dust Skipper, Viridis Skipper
  • Oarisma aurantiaca — Orange Skipperling
  • Stinga morrisoni — Morrison's Skipper, Morrison’s Silver Spike

Moths

  • Ctenucha venosa — Veined Ctenucha
Show / hide ▾Frequently asked questions

What are the ideal growing conditions for Side Oats Grama?
Light: Full sun. Soil moisture: Dry.

How do I germinate and establish Side Oats Grama from seed?
USDA lists cold stratification as not required; seed-lot response may vary.

Is Side Oats Grama deer and herbivore resistant?
Species-specific deer resistance has not been verified here. Even plants described as resistant may be browsed. Use physical protection where deer damage is a concern.

When should I expect Side Oats Grama to bloom?
Typical flowering period: Mid-summer to early fall. Timing varies with location and weather.

Show / hide ▾Sources & ecological notes

Landscape companion selection: Natural Communities compared the growing requirements shown on these species pages with selected source records: Mature dry sand prairie — burned — Northwestern Illinois — Mississippi River sand deposits; Hill prairie — Illinois; Gravel prairie — Illinois River valley, Illinois. The shortlist is a planting-design inference. A shared record does not establish adjacency, identical soil requirements, local seed origin, or a tested planting combination. Regional synthesis records retain their documented focal-to-associate scope.

Illinois communities & local records: INHS: Illinois sand-area plant communities.

Native range & ecological ratings: Flora of the Chicago Region (2017), via Universal FQA; USACE Chicago FQA (2017); Kew WCVP / Plants of the World Online.

Growing conditions & other references: Illinois Wildflowers, John Hilty; USDA Forest Service: Bouteloua curtipendula; USDA Forest Service: Bouteloua hirsuta; USDA Forest Service: Calamovilfa longifolia; USDA Forest Service: Celtis occidentalis; USDA Forest Service: Dalea purpurea; USDA Forest Service: Juniperus virginiana; USDA Forest Service: Rhus glabra; Patrick Goggin: Wisconsin native plant guide, p. 75; USDA NRCS PLANTS; USDA Forest Service: species review.

Wildlife records: Shropshire & Tallamy: caterpillar hosts (2025).

Native range does not identify the origin of the seed or plants offered. Community and wildlife records apply to the locations and conditions described.

Research notes & credits

USACE/ERDC fqadata — Chicago Region FQA 2017. Herman, B., Sliwinski, R. & Whitaker, S. (2017), Chicago Region FQA Calculator; distributed by USACE/ERDC in fqadata under CC0. Values may differ from Flora of the Chicago Region (2017). CC0 dedication.

Range data: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; 4 June 2026 release, accessed 7 September 2026. © The Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. CC BY 3.0; selected and reformatted. Kew cannot warrant the quality or accuracy of these data. This use has no Kew endorsement.

Caterpillar host records: Shropshire, K.J. & Tallamy, D.W. (2025), Lepidoptera of North America, Supplement 1. Contains information from this database made available under the Open Database License (ODbL 1.0). Natural Communities selected species-level records and screened source qualifications. The complete selection and transformation instructions for this page are available below under the same license.

Source: Phillippe, L.R., Molano-Flores, B., Murphy, M.J.C., Marcum, P.B. & Ebinger, J.E. (2011), Status of Endangered and Threatened Sand Area Species of the Illinois Flora, Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin 39(4):259–296. © 2011 University of Illinois Board of Trustees; CC BY 4.0. Selected community facts regrouped and described by Natural Communities. Historical source names retained; no current legal conservation status is asserted.

Flora rating attribution: Kenneth Johnson (2018), Flora of the Chicago Region UFQA Database, following Gerould Wilhelm and Laura Rericha (2017), Flora of the Chicago Region: A Floristic and Ecological Synthesis. Individual rating facts are presented with original commentary; the calculator’s software license is not treated as a license for the underlying Flora publication.

Caterpillar research records

Plant: Bouteloua curtipendula

Record scope: Host literature synthesis; no county nativity or local insect occurrence inferred.

Shropshire & Tallamy (2025) · Original research dataset · Reuse license: ODbL-1.0

Plant names in the source Source insect record IDs
Bouteloua curtipendula 200676, 200679, 200691, 200692, 201643, 203645, 206856, 206867, 208876, 211876

How these records were selected

To reproduce this selection, use the “UDELep May 2025” worksheet in the original research dataset.

  1. Match the insect record IDs above to column A (UDLepID). Within each table row, pair every listed insect ID with every listed source plant name.
  2. Use the first two words in column H for the insect’s scientific name, column E for its common name, and column AB for its source category.
  3. Treat the selected pairs as reported caterpillar host records. Keep all other source fields unchanged and outside this selected table. Include no other rows or host pairs.
  4. Group butterflies and skippers together, and the other categories as moths. Retain the source’s exotic-category labels and sort display names by scientific insect name.

Survey communities: Ebinger et al. (2006), Tables 1–12, Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin. CC BY 4.0; adapted as dated presence lists, with the source’s non-native records excluded from the displayed native lists.

Growing guidance: Illinois Extension — Keeping deer out of the yard and garden. Selected facts in original wording. General deer advice is not a species resistance rating.

Additional community records: Evers (1955), Hill Prairies of Illinois. Hill-prairie records adapted from Evers (1955), © University of Illinois Board of Trustees, CC BY 4.0. Selected facts and taxonomic links; source spellings and historical survey dates retained.

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Where We Ship

 

 

        What to Expect When Receiving Your Delivery

        • Your plants will be packaged with the utmost care
        • We will need to cut back certain plants prior to shipping. This seems counter-intuitive, however, the fewer leaves the less water the plants can lose during shipping, resulting in healthier plants for you. This also enables the plants to fit within the protective packaging and shipped safely.

         

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          What to Do With Your Plants After  Receiving Your Delivery

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            • Make sure each plant is receiving the appropriate amount of light.
            • Continue to water daily each morning and possibly again in the afternoon
            • No additional fertilizer is needed
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