DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
SPECIES: Schizachyrium scoparium | Little Bluestem 



GENERAL DISTRIBUTION : 
Little bluestem is distributed throughout North America except in the
states and provinces along the Pacific Coast.  It occurs primarily in
the prairies and plains of the midwestern and western United States and
Canada.  Its range extends from Alberta to Nova Scotia in Canada; from
southeastern Idaho, Utah, and Arizona eastward throughout the remaining
United States; and in Mexico [27,132,144,153].

The general distribution for five commonly recognized varieties is
as follows [28,58]:

S. s. var. divergens - Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, eastern Texas
S. s. var. frequens - central United States
S. s. var. littoralis - along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts from Nova 
                     Scotia to Texas, and in Ohio and Indiana along
                     Lake Ontario and Lake Michigan
S. s. var. neomexicanum - western Texas, New Mexico, Arizona
S. s. var. virile - eastern Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas


ECOSYSTEMS : 
   FRES13  Loblolly - shortleaf pine
   FRES15  Oak - hickory
   FRES16  Oak - gum - cypress
   FRES21  Ponderosa pine
   FRES32  Texas savanna
   FRES34  Chaparral - mountain shrub
   FRES38  Plains grasslands
   FRES39  Prairie


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


ADMINISTRATIVE UNITS : 
     ACAD  AGFO  ALPO  ARCH  BADL  BIBE
     BITH  CHCH  CANY  CACO  CAHA  CALO
     CACA  CAMO  CHCU  CHCH  COLO  CUGA
     CUVA  DEWA  DETO  EFMO  FLFO  FODO
     GATE  GWCA  GLCA  GRCA  GUMO  GUIS
     INDU  JECA  LAME  MACA  MANA  NATR
     NABR  NERI  OBRI  OZAR  PAIS  PIRO
     PIPE  ROCR  ROMO  SCBL  SHEN  SHIL
     SLBE  SUCR  WACA  WHSA  WICA  ZION


BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS : 
    5  Columbia Plateau
    6  Upper Basin and Range
    7  Lower Basin and Range
    8  Northern 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 : 
   K011  Western ponderosa forest
   K012  Douglas-fir forest
   K016  Eastern ponderosa forest
   K017  Black Hills pine forest
   K018  Pine - Douglas-fir forest
   K023  Juniper - pinyon woodland
   K039  Blackbrush
   K053  Grama - galleta steppe
   K055  Sagebrush steppe
   K056  Wheatgrass - needlegrass shrubsteppe
   K057  Galleta - three-awn shrubsteppe
   K061  Mesquite - acacia savanna
   K063  Foothills prairie
   K064  Grama - needlegrass - wheatgrass
   K065  Grama - buffalograss
   K066  Wheatgrass - needlegrass
   K067  Wheatgrass - bluestem - needlegrass
   K068  Wheatgrass - grama - buffalograss
   K069  Bluestem - grama prairie
   K070  Sandsage - bluestem prairie
   K071  Shinnery
   K072  Sea oats prairie
   K074  Bluestem prairie
   K075  Nebraska sandhills prairie
   K076  Blackland prairie
   K077  Bluestem - sacahuista prairie
   K081  Oak savanna
   K083  Cedar glades
   K084  Cross Timbers
   K086  Juniper - oak savanna
   K087  Mesquite - oak savanna
   K088  Fayette prairie
   K098  Northern floodplain forest
   K115  Sand pine scrub


SAF COVER TYPES : 
     1  Jack pine
    16  Aspen
    63  Cottonwood
    81  Loblolly pine
    80  Loblolly pine - shortleaf pine
   210  Interior Douglas-fir
   220  Rocky Mountain juniper


SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES : 
NO-ENTRY


HABITAT TYPES AND PLANT COMMUNITIES : 
Little bluestem is an indicator of climax grassland communities in
prairie and plains grasslands ecosystems, where it is characteristically
located on upland sites.  It has been listed as a dominant or codominant
understory species in oak-woodland community types of Arizona and Rocky
Mountain juniper-bluebunch wheatgrass communities of southeastern
Montana [16,119].  It occurs to a lesser extent in other shrub and
woodland communities.

Published classification schemes listing little bluestem as a climax
indicator species or as a dominant part of the vegetation in community
types, habitat types, or plant associations are listed below.

 (1)  Analysis of grassland vegetation on selected key areas in
        southwestern North Dakota. [155]
 (2)  Classification of deer habitat in the ponderosa pine forest of the
        Black Hills, South Dakota. [135]
 (3)  Classification of native vegetation at the Woodworth Station, North
        Dakota. [96]
 (4)  Floristic composition of plant communities in a western Minnesota
         tallgrass prairie. [42]
 (5)  The habitat types of Region 2, U.S. Forest Service: a synthesis.
        [144]
 (6)  The many faces of South Dakota rangelands: description and
        classification. [52]
 (7)  A preliminary classification of the natural vegetation of Colorado.
        [12]
 (8)  Remnant grassland vegetation and ecological affinities of the upper
        coastal prairie of Texas [33]
 (9)  The vegetation of the Grand River/Cedar River, Sioux, and Ashland
        Districts of the Custer National Forest: a habitat type
        classification. [61]
(10)  The vegetation of Theodore Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota:
        a habitat type classification. [62]

Related categories for Species: Schizachyrium scoparium | Little Bluestem