Grassland Plants

Grassland biome consists of both plants and animals. The plants adaptation is different to that of any other plant adaptation. What exactly are grasslands? Grasslands are nothing but a long stretch of land that is fully covered with grass, grasses that are either tall or short. These natural landscapes that are spread over acres of land also consist trees but, they are not as abundantly present as the grasses and only appear to be at long distances, mostly near the rivers. In short, grasslands are dominated by grasses. Besides short and tall grass prairies, there are also flowering plants/forbs perennials adding more beauty to the grassland plants. On an average, grassland biome gets 25 to 75 cm rainfall every year. The climate in grassland biome is quite temperate with not too much cold and too hot.

Grassland Plants List

Given below is a list of plants found in temperate grasslands and the list is segregated according to the types of flora in the grassland biome. Many of these are also found in the biomes of North America.

Grasses
Being the most dominant amongst the flora and fauna of grasslands, there are different types of grasses that are present in such temperate grasslands including sedges and rushes. Some of which include the following:

• Autumn Bentgrass
• Bluejoint Reedgrass
• Big Bluestem
• Broomsedge
• Wild Cane
• Tussock Sedge
• Dwarf Bamboo
• Silky Oatgrass
• Bottlebrush Grass
• Buffalo Grass
• Rice Cutgrass
• Giant Plumegrass
• Red Fescue
• Indian Grass
• Gama Grass
• Needlegrass
• Woolgrass Bulrush
• Ryegrass

Flowering Perennials/Forbs
Flowers add to the scenic splendor of grassland biome with unique and beautiful flowers which are only available in grasslands. Given below is a list of them.

• Milkweed
• Marsh Marigold
• Sweet Flag
• Coreopsis
• Mistflower
• Oxeye Sunflower
• Common Boneset
• Blueflags
• Seashore Mallow
• Blazing Stars (Plain/Spikes)
• Cardinal Flower
• Monkeyflower
• Wild Bergamot
• Mountain Mints
• Coneflower
• Wood Lily
• Atamasco Lily
• Turk's Cap Lily
• Canada Lily
• Great Blue Labelia

Shrubs and Trees
Trees and shrubs are not abundant and dense in grasslands as the grasses and flowering perennials. However, there are a few that appear at certain distance.

• Silky Dogwood
• High Tide Bush
• Southern/Northern Bayberry
• Azalea (Rose/Swamp)
• Black/Red Chokeberry
• Prairie/Silky Willow
• Meadowsweet
• Serviceberry
• Sumac (Staghorn/Smooth)
• Fringetree
• Pond pine
• Persimmon
• Black Locust

Grassland Plants Adaptation

Just like any other organism or living or breathing beings in the world, plants also have their specific adaptations depending on their place of origin. Grassland plants can survive in both cold and dry weather conditions as grassland biome has mostly hot summers and rainfalls; also many a time, with falling snow. The plants reserve the moisture during rainfall and snow which helps them in growing season. The plants adapt to this condition and they grow and survive accordingly. For example, the grasses of temperate grasslands are upright and narrow which helps to reduce the heat gain during summers. In grassland biome, fire that erupts from lightening plays an important role as it helps many plants by germinating seeds and also enriches the soil by providing it freshly burnt vegetation. A tough rooting system of these plants prevents the roots from being pulled off by animals when grazing.

In grassland biomes, shrubs and bushes tend to re-sprout after fire and as the grassland trees have thick barks, it resists fire. Another interesting facts is that the grasses in temperate grasslands grow from the base and not from the tip and therefore it protects itself from getting permanently damaged.