Prairie Cup Grass

Eriochloa contracta

Found in prairies, roadsides, wet or moist disturbed areas, waste areas around wool-combing mills. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you

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Not native

Not native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?

Profile 65%

Height: Up to about 2 feet
Light: Full sun
Soil moisture: Dry to wet

Eriochloa contracta — fruit photograph — Stephen Laymon, Bureau of Land Management · Public domain · Original photograph

At a glance

Life cycle: Annual

Not yet recorded · Spread · Leaves · Bloom

Bloom: recorded only in the FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team) phone app (app page).

Spread and leaves: no source found yet.

This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.

Recorded in 1 Alabama county.

Natural habitats

Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 2

Limestone prairie. Shown: Grand Prairie, Coosa Valley Prairies, Floyd County, Georgia, a neighboring state.Grand Prairie, Coosa Valley Prairies, Floyd County, Alan M. Cressler / U.S. Geological Survey, undated. Public domain. Source record.

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

All habitats

Ecological relationships

Who uses this plant?

What these records mean

3CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL

Genus host records with ranges including AL · Eriochloa

Hylephila phyleusFiery Skipper
Mocis latipesSmall Mocis, Striped Grass Looper
Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth

Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)

—BeesSoutheastern regional records

—Specialist beesPollen specialists

—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim

Growing and identification

Plant details

Family: Poaceae
Flower color: Green

Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.

Growing sources and scope

Flower color · “Green” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Height · “Up to about 2 feet” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Life cycle · “Annual” · Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Light · “Full sun (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia
Soil · “Dry; Moist; Wet (documented habitat)” · FloraQuest: Carolinas, Georgia (Southeastern Flora Team), phone app (app page) · Carolinas and Georgia

Conservation status

Alabama rank	SNR
Global rank	Not available
AL status	Not verified
Federal status	Not verified

Conservation source

Native alternatives

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