Introduced & Native Perennial & Annual Warm Season Grasses

Warm season perennial grasses are normally used for permanent or semi-permanent pastures, or hay production. There are two categories of warm season perennial grass; Native or Improved (introduced) varieties. Native varieties refer to those plants that originated from a specific area and at some point in time the dominant range or pasture forage. Introduced species are those species which were introduced into an area, from a different origin. Many introduced species have become well acclimated to a specific area and are considered naturalized species. The term annual refers to a plant that completes its life cycle within one year, perennial refers to a plant that lives for many years. Or it could be said that these grasses with proper management are permanent.