DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Panicum virgatum | Switchgrass 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
In North America, switchgrass grows south of latitude 55 degrees N. from
Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia, and south throughout most of the United
States east of the Rocky Mountains.  It is most abundant in the Great
Plains and eastern states [15,72].


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES12  Longleaf - slash pine
   FRES13  Loblolly - shortleaf pine
   FRES15  Oak - hickory
   FRES17  Elm - ash - cottonwood
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES28  Western hardwoods
   FRES30  Desert shrub
   FRES32  Texas savanna
   FRES35  Pinyon - juniper
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES39  Prairie
   FRES41  Wet grasslands


STATES : 
     AL  AZ  AR  CO  CT  DE  FL  GA  HI  IL
     IN  IA  KS  KY  LA  ME  MD  MA  MI  MN
     MS  MO  MT  NE  NV  NH  NJ  NM  NY  NC
     ND  OH  OK  PA  RI  SC  SD  TN  TX  UT
     VT  VA  WV  WY  MB  NF  NS  ON  PQ  SK
     MEXICO


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     AGFO  AMIS  ASIS  BADL  BICY  BITH
     BUFF  CACO  CALO  CARE  COLO  COLM
     CUIS  CUVA  DEWA  EVER  FIIS  GATE
     GWCA  GWMP  GLCA  GRCA  GRBA  GRSM
     GUIS  INDU  JELA  JECA  JOFL  MACA
     NATR  NERI  OBRI  OZAR  PIPE  RICH
     SCBL  SLBE  THRO  WACA  WICA


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern Rocky Mountains
    9  Middle Rocky Mountains
   10  Wyoming Basin
   11  Southern Rocky Mountains
   12  Colorado Plateau
   13  Rocky Mountain Piedmont
   14  Great Plains
   15  Black Hills Uplift
   16  Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands


KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS : 
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K037  Mountain-mahogany - oak scrub
   K039  Blackbrush
   K040  Saltbush - greasewood
   K041  Creosotebush
   K051  Wheatgrass - bluegrass
   K056  Wheatgrass - needlegrass shrubsteppe
   K057  Galleta - three-awn shrubsteppe
   K062  Mesquite - live oak savanna
   K064  Grama - needlegrass - wheatgrass
   K065  Grama - buffalograss
   K066  Wheatgrass - needlegrass
   K067  Wheatgrass - bluestem - needlegrass
   K069  Bluestem - grama prairie
   K070  Sandsage - bluestem prairie
   K074  Bluestem prairie
   K075  Nebraska Sandhills prairie
   K076  Blackland prairie
   K077  Bluestem - sacahuista prairie
   K078  Southern cordgrass prairie
   K079  Palmetto prairie
   K081  Oak savanna
   K082  Mosaic of K074 and K100
   K083  Cedar glades
   K084  Cross Timbers
   K086  Juniper - oak savanna
   K089  Black Belt
   K091  Cypress savanna
   K098  Northern floodplain forest
   K111  Oak - hickory - pine forest
   K114  Pocosin
   K116  Subtropical pine forest


SAF COVER TYPES : 
    42  Bur oak
    46  Eastern redcedar
    70  Longleaf pine
    71  Longleaf pine - scrub oak
    74  Cabbage palmetto
    80  Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
    81  Loblolly pine
    82  Loblolly pine - hardwood
    83  Longleaf pine - slash pine
    98  Pond pine
   111  South Florida slash pine
   235  Cottonwood - willow
   237  Interior ponderosa pine
   239  Pinyon - juniper


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Switchgrass is a codominant of climax tallgrass prairie, which once
stretched from eastern North Dakota and Minnesota to Oklahoma.  Kuchler
[43] designated this as Bluestem Prairie
(Andropogon-Panicum-Sorghastrum).  The key dominants are big bluestem
(Andropogon gerardii var. gerardii), little bluestem (Schizachyrium
scoparium), switchgrass, and indiangrass (Sorghastrum nutans).  Within
this region, switchgrass is common over a variety of sites but is
generally considered a mesic grass and is most abundant on lowlands.
Along with Canada wildrye (Elymus canadensis), it may codominate
lowlands situated between more xeric big bluestem-dominated communities
and more mesic stands of prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata) [75,76].

In coastal and blackland prairies of Texas, switchgrass may codominate
poorly drained lowlands with eastern grama grass (Tripsacum
dactyloides), tall dropseed (Sporobolus asper var. asper), and/or
indiangrass [12,17,18].

Publications describing grassland communities dominated by switchgrass
are listed below:

Plant communities of the blackland prairies of Texas [12]
Remnant grassland vegetation and ecological affinities of upper coastal
  prairie of Texas [17]
North American Prairie [75].

Related categories for Species: Panicum virgatum | Switchgrass