It is a short grass found mainly on the High Plains and is co-dominant with blue grama (B. gracilis) over most of the shortgrass prairie.

Buffalograss is valued both as a forage species to feed domesticated animals and as a landscaping plant used in low water lawns and xeriscaping.

It recovers quickly from grazing and from drought due to its ability to vegetatively reproduce itself by means of runners.

[3] A plant may extend stolons outward to reach a length of 15 to 45 centimetres (6 to 18 in) by the end of a growing season.

The roots of buffalograss are significantly finer than those of most plains grasses, with a thickness of less than 1 mm (0.039 in).

[8] The leaf blades of buffalograss are quite narrow, soft, somewhat curly, hairy on both sides, and usually gray-green in color.

[9] Buffalograss usually produces pollen or seeds on separate plants and because it reproduces by stolons large patches of just one sex may form.

[3][10] The seed producing inflorescences are very modified compared with other grasses including the other grasses in the Bouteloua genus, looking like a round globe topped with short spikes, appropriately called a spikelet, with three to seven spikelets per bur.

[13] As a warm season grass it becomes green late in the spring and dries out early in the fall.

[8] The dried leaves and inflorescence stalks persist through the dormant period, turning a light golden color.

In 1999 James Travis Columbus published a paper recommending that Buchloe and several other small genera be combined with Bouteloua placing buffalograss with the grama grasses.

[3] As of 2024[update] this is the most widely used classification of this species including in Plants of the World Online (POWO),[2] World Flora Online,[19] and the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS database.

[2] In the United States it is primarily found in the great plains mostly west of the Mississippi from Minnesota and Montana in the north to New Mexico and Louisiana in the south.

[28] Along with blue grama it is the co-dominant species in most of the shortgrass prairie ecosystem in the western Great Plains.

[30] Off the plains buffalograss is associated with eastern ponderosa pine forests as an understory plant, in the Cross Timbers ecoregion, and with mesquite and oak savannas.

[14] Its elevation range is large, from near sea level to as high as 1,925 metres (6,300 ft) in Wyoming.

[32] NatureServe gave it a rating of critically imperiled (S1) in Manitoba and in Saskatchewan, Arizona, Iowa, and Utah.

[33] The largest areas of uninterrupted areas of native prairie are in the Central Shortgrass Prairie, in eastern Colorado and western Kansas with as much as 50% of it still in place, though used for grazing of cattle instead of the mix of native grazers.

[37] The US Department of the Interior evaluated it as good to fair forage for elk in Utah and Colorado.

[38] In black-tailed prairie dog towns buffalograss tends to be the dominant plant species in the mixed grass prairie where western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii) and blue grama grass predominate in nearby areas.

The small butterfly called the green skipper (Hesperia viridis) feeds upon this and other Bouteloua species as a caterpillar.

[43] Buffalograss false smut is a fungal disease caused by Porocercospora seminalis (formerly placed in the genus Cercospora).

Infection by the fungus prevents normal caryopsis development, resulting in loss of yield and reduced seed germination.

[29] Buffalo grass is particularly noted for thriving in clay soils and full sun.

[55] It is not well adapted to colder conditions and can experience significant winter kill in the Front Range region of Colorado.

[49] 'Sundancer': A seeded cultivar that was released in 2014 which has improved color and an earlier spring green up compared to older varieties.

[56] It grows 7.5–15 centimetres (3–6 in) in height and will stay partially green in the warm winters of southern California if not mowed in the fall.

[58] Like some other cultivars developed for warmer climates it is sensitive to cold, dry conditions and can experience significant winter kill in Colorado.