A very tall perennial grass with drooping branches bearing widely spaced reddish-purple spikelets. The seeds are also oily, leading to its other common name, “grease grass”. When seen growing in bunches across fields this grass creates a wave of purple swaying in the wind.
Used for grazing and nesting material, it is also the larval host of the Common wood nymph, Crossline skipper, Little glassywing, and the Zabulon skipper
Least Concern
