Harpers Ferry National Historical Park - Grasses

Grasses and grass-like plants, including sedges and rushes, are a diverse and important part of plant communities. On dry, rocky ridgetops of Maryland Heights, Loudoun Heights, and Short Hill, poverty grass ( Danthonia spicata ) and greenish sedge ( Carex virescens ) are the most frequent species encountered. At lower elevations on these ridges, rock muhly ( Muhlenbergia sobolifera ), tall brome-grass ( Bromus pubescens ), and Bosc’s panicgrass ( Dicanthelium boscii ) are commonly found. In floodplain forests, visitors will observe even more species such as nodding fescue ( Festuca subverticillata ) and deer-tongue grass ( Dicanthelium clandestinum ). While walking along the rocky, flood-scoured riverbanks of the Potomac and Shenandoah, prairie grasses such as big bluestem ( Andropogon gerardii ), the locally uncommon prairie cordgrass ( Spartina pectinata ), and the shoreline-stabilizing Emory’s sedge ( Carex emoryi ) are more likely to be seen.