buffalo grass, low perennial grass (Buchloe dactyloides) of the plains regions, one of the most important range grasses. Its dense matted growth is valuable also in erosion control. Buffalo grass usually grows together with the grama, or mesquite, grasses (genus Bouteloua), especially blue grama and side-oats grama. These taller grasses have the same distribution as buffalo grass, but none of them produce a continuous sod, as prairie grasses do. Buffalo grass is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Cyperales, family Gramineae.