Inland Seaoats, Northern Seaoats, and River Oats

Description:

Inland sea oats is a rhizomatous clump forming perennial with characteristic drooping panicles. The plant can reach four feet in height, but is most often shorter. The leaf blades are broadly lanceolate (up to one inch wide at base) giving it the common name broad-leafed Chasmanthium. Seed heads are borne in open panicles up to 10 inches long. The drooping panicles are initially green turning straw colored as seed ripen. Various shades of red sometimes occur as the fruiting spikelets mature.

Habitat:

Miller Springs Park is a 360-acre park located below Belton Lake, on the Leon River, in Bell County, Texas. It contains diverse riparian terrain, including limestone bluffs, estuarial wetlands, mountain cedar hilltops, and riverside cottonwood stands. Numerous trails traverse prairie-like open spaces and forests of native cedar elm, live oak, and red oaks. Recent floods have created a new canyon that reveals numerous layers of sedimentary rock and fossils. Area wildlife includes white-tail deer, red foxes, coyotes, black squirrels, armadillos, and about 200 species of birds in the course of the year.