JUNE 2017 • NEBRASKAland 59
Blowout grass (opposite, top) is one of the first colonizers of many
blowouts, and, along with painted milkvetch (opposite, bottom) and
the endangered blowout penstemon (left), helps to stabilize blowing
sands enough to allow other plants to become established. As
those plants gain a foothold, blowouts like the one pictured below
can slowly become revegetated.
first, to be a colony of independent plants is often
one large plant with many shoots emerging from
a vast and interconnected network of underground
rhizomes.
Strongly rhizomatous grasses such as blowout
grass and prairie sandreed are commonly found
near the actively eroding edges of blowouts where
few other plants can survive. Lemon scurfpea and
blowout penstemon are examples of wildflowers with
similar strategies. Other plant species often seen in
and around blowouts include sand lovegrass, plains
muhly, winged dock and painted milkvetch.
All of these plants can help stabilize shifting sands
enough that other species can begin to fill in around
them, beginning a process of revegetation. Ironically,
revegetation brings more competitive plants that
usually end up eliminating the early colonizers that
made it all possible.
