|Species in the grass family (Poaceae) that has narrow, grass-like foliage with leaf veins typically parallel to one another, and leaf margins that are most often smooth. With a few exceptions, such as bamboo, most grasses are herbaceous, meaning they do not develop woody tissues. Roots of grasses form a fibrous mass and enable the plant to survive long-term dry periods. Stems are composed of solids joints, called nodes, separated by segments called internodes. Nodes are the points of attachment for leaves. Flowers, and later seeds, are borne in spikes, racemes or panicles, on a central stem. Grasses spread horizontally by stolons or rhizomes, and reproduce by seed as well. Fertilizing ornamental grasses can result in over-lush growth, becoming unmanageable.
Andropogon gerardii is upright and clump-forming, with green to blue-green leaves, to 3/8 inches wide, turning orange to copper-red in the fall. Terminal inflorescences appear in late August to early September, opening red and darkening with age, vaguely resembling an upside-down turkey foot.