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Plant profile · Austin & Hill Country

Alkali Sacaton

Sporobolus airoides
native · Hill Country

Alkali Sacaton is a grass native to the Texas Hill Country that grows 1–5 ft tall and 3 ft wide. It wants full sun or part shade and low water, and handles caliche and clay soil. Blooms yellow in mid summer. Good for bees.

Will it grow in your yard?

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The facts

6 sources
Type
Grass
Sun
Full sun to part shade (3–6 hrs of direct sun)
Water
Low
Height
1–5 ft
Spread
3 ft
Bloom
Mid Summer · yellow
Foliage
Deciduous or dies back in winter
Soil
Takes caliche and clay · recorded on caliche, clay, dry, gravelly, loam, moist, saline, sand
Wildlife
Supports bees

Where it grows

Recorded in these EPA Level IV ecoregions in the Austin and Hill Country launch area:

Balcones CanyonlandsFloodplains and Low Terraces

1 occurrence record in Central Texas (GBIF).

Can you buy it?

Also grows here — hard to find. Native and recorded growing in Central Texas, but not on the grower stock lists we read. Sourcing varies: some are stocked widely, others you will have to hunt for.

also grows from seed It starts readily from seed, so a packet from a native-seed supplier, or seed collected with permission, is often the easiest way to get a plant no nursery pots.