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North America
Located between forests and deserts in the Midwestern states of the U.S. and Canada are temperate grasslands known as prairies or plains. Grasses are much more diverse than you might think. Grasses are monocots, meaning they have parallel forming leaves, whereas prairie plants are either monocots or dicots. Dicots produce showy flowers to attract insects vital to pollination. Sedges and rushes look like grass but are actually plants. Big bluestem, Indian grass, blazing stars, butterfly weed, coneflowers and sunflowers are just a few examples of vegetation found in North American temperate grasslands.
Short grass prairies, located in the eastern part of the Midwest grow taller as they extend into the western side of the Great Plains region. Ironweed is more often found on the west side where rainfall is heavier. Various thistles, Joe-Pye weed and teasel were introduced to the region by wind and travelers.
Eurasia
Temperate grasslands of Eurasia, called steppes, span over 5,000 miles from Hungary through the Ukraine and Central Asia to Manchuria, Russia and the Mideast from Turkey to India. Perennial bunch grasses dominate much of the Eurasian steppe regions throughout most of the year. Rapid growth begins in June; soon entering semi-dormancy during July and August due to drought. In areas of sandy soil it is common to find dwarf shrub thickets, such as carex and spiraea. Asters and wild sunflowers are among the many plant species of the Eurasian temperate grasslands.
South America
The South American treeless grassland areas of Argentina and Uruguay are known as pampas. Some native plants of the pampas, such as cattails, water lilies and reeds, prefer wetlands but have adapted to the dry climate of the region. The South American pampas tend to be wetter than other grasslands, allowing trees to grow but are almost always destroyed by fire. One exception to this rule is the ombu tree, which has made adaptations over time to protect itself from fire.
South Africa
People of South Africa refer to their native grasslands as velds. Several velds make up the country's temperate grassland; most are on the verge of extinction. Only 4 percent of the original Renosterveld still exists today. Renosterveld's rich plant species include a large selection of geophytes that occur nowhere else in the world. One of every six plants found in the velds of South Africa is a grass. More than 100 endemic plant species exist in the veld of Mpumalanga alone while several species of red grass dominate the Highveld region of South Africa.