Bearded Shorthusk
Brachyelytrum erectum
native
Other Names:
Sang Grass, Southern Long-awned Wood Grass, Southern Shorthusk, Common Shorthusk
Bearded Shorthusk is a native perennial grass that grows in most of Virginia. The larvae of some moths and butterflies feed on it. The grasses are in the fifth largest plant family, which has about 12,000 species and includes important food crops such as corn, wheat, rice, and barley. Grasses also are used extensively as building materials (bamboo, thatching) and increasingly for fuel (ethanol). Lands where grasses are dominant occupy more than 40 percent of the world's land area outside of Greenland and Antarctica. The amount of grassland in the United States is shrinking, which is having a significant effect on bird species who live in that habitat.
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