What is the definition of a native plant?

By Derek Scasta

July 12, 2008 07:00 pm

— I was reading an old report about Navarro County Agriculture that originated in 1963 and came across an interesting statement. When mentioning the forage base for beef cattle grazing in the county, the report stated, “Grasses are native, in most cases are common bermuda, dallis and johnson grass.”
The reason that this statement is interesting is that bermudagrass, dallisgrass and johnsongrass are not native to Texas or to the United States.
Bermudagrass was introduced to the United States from Africa in 1751, dallisgrass was introduced from Argentina and Brazil in 1875 and johnsongrass was introduced from southern Eurasia in 1840.
Thus none of these grasses are by the true definition of a native are native.
So what is the definition of a native plant? According to Webster’s Dictionary, the term native can be defined as “living or growing naturally in a particular region.” The Texas Range Plants book by Hatch and Pluhar gives this explanation when describing the origin of plants as being native or introduced: “Most plants discussed in this book are native to North America. Many plants have been intentionally introduced into North America as forage or ornamental species; others were accidentally introduced and have become naturalized, some as pernicious weeds.”
The reason it is important to understand the difference between native and introduced plants is vital to agricultural production, natural resources management, wildlife and species diversity.
I often get phone calls from new or existing landowners that want to go back to native grasses. Many times that is where their knowledge stops and they are under the misconception that there is such a thing as a native bermuda, etc. Dr. Jake Landers, retired Extension Rangeland Management Specialist from San Angelo made the comment, “if you can’t name it, you can’t see it and if you can’t see it you can’t manage it.” I feel that this remark makes that point that we have to understand the differences between native and introduced plants so our management plan can dictate the direction we will go.
In terms of pasture management, we now know that bermuda, dallis and johnsongrass are not native grasses. So what are some native grasses that we could manage for?
Prior to the suppression of natural fires, the depletion of the great buffalo herds and the plowing up of this area, it was known as the Blackland Prairie and hosted one of the most productive and diverse tall grasslands in the world. Although, many of those species are not as widespread as they once were we can still implement them into a range and pasture situation. These grasses include the following: Easter gamagrass, Switchgrass, Big Bluestem and little bluestem. Those four grasses are the main grasses making up a tall grass prairie.
Other grasses that we know are native include: sideoats grama (the state grass of Texas), vine mesquite, silver bluestem, etc. All of these grasses are native and extremely productive.
Other advantages to native grasses versus introduced grasses in the pasture situation include: Native grasses do not require high inputs of fertilizers to be productive unlike introduced species like bermudagrass or dallisgrass. Native grasses, especially bunch grasses, provide ideal habitat and forage for wildlife species. This is especially true of bobwhite quail which prefer to nest in mid to tall bunchgrasses.
As you walk around the pasture and are trying to identify plants and are curious to know if there are native or introduced, there are several resources you can utilize to make that determination. The Noble Foundation, based in Ardmore, Okla., has a great plant Web site that has the origin of each plant. This Web site also has great color photos of plants and background information on each. The web address is noble.org/webapps/plantimagegallery.
There is also a book titled “Texas Range Plants,” written by Hatch and Pluhar. This book is available through many different book distributor and it includes detailed drawings of plants and information about each one including origin.
Fever Tick Update
The Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) marked an ominous anniversary July 3 by expanding the preventive cattle fever tick quarantine area in south Texas by 307,000 acres, after the dangerous livestock pests were detected on cattle outside quarantine areas in Starr and Zapata counties.
Fever ticks, capable of carrying and transmitting deadly “tick fever” to cattle, have been detected on livestock or wildlife on 139 Texas pastures during the past 12 months. Full report at http://www.tahc.state.tx.us.
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