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San Diego County needlegrass, San Diego needlegrass

Thurber's needlegrass, Thurber's rice grass

Habit Plants cespitose, not rhizomatous. Plants cespitose, not rhizomatous.
Culms

110-140 cm tall, 2.5-4 mm thick, internodes densely and retrorsely pubescent for 3-9 mm below the nodes, particularly the lower nodes, glabrous or retrorsely puberulent elsewhere;

nodes 3, pubescent or glabrate.

30-75 cm tall, 0.5-1.7 mm thick, internodes pubescent or glabrous, pubescence more common on the lower internodes, particularly just below the nodes;

nodes 2-3, lower nodes retrorsely pubescent, upper nodes glabrous or pubescent.

Panicles

21-25 cm long, (2)4-8 cm wide;

branches strongly divergent to ascending, straight, lower branches 5-7 cm.

7-15 cm long, 0.5-2.5 cm wide, often included in the upper leaf sheaths at the start of anthesis;

branches 1.5-6 cm, appressed to strongly ascending, with 1-6 spikelets.

Spikelets

appressed to the branches.

Glumes

subequal, 8-11.5 mm;

lower glumes 0.5-1 mm wide, 3-5-veined;

upper glumes 3-veined;

florets 5.5-7.5 mm long, 0.7-1 mm thick, fusiform, terete;

calluses 0.25-1.2 mm, acute;

lemmas evenly hairy, hairs at midlength and at the apices 0.5-1 mm, apical lobes 0.2-0.4 mm, membranous, flexible;

awns 20-50 mm, persistent, twice-geniculate, all segments scabrous to scabridulous, terminal segment straight;

paleas 2.6-3.8 mm, 1/2 - 3/4 as long as the lemmas, pubescent, hairs not extending beyond the apices, veins terminating below the apices, apices rounded;

anthers 2.5-4 mm, dehiscent, not penicillate.

often purplish;

lower glumes 10-15 mm long, 1.2-2 mm wide;

upper glumes to 2 mm shorter;

florets 6-9 mm long, 0.7-1.2 mm thick, fusiform, terete;

calluses 0.9-1.5 mm, sharp;

lemmas coriaceous, evenly pubescent or the back glabrate distally, hairs 0.5-0.8 mm, apices lobed on 1 margin, lobe about 0.1 mm long, thick, apical lemma hairs 0.5-0.8 mm;

awns 32-56 mm, twice-geniculate, first 2 segments pilose, hairs 0.8-2 mm, terminal segment glabrous, often scabrous;

paleas 4.6-6.1 mm, 3/4 - 9/10 as long as the lemmas, sparsely pubescent towards the base;

anthers 2.5-3.5 mm, dehiscent, not penicillate.

Caryopses

5-7 mm, fusiform.

Basal

sheaths mostly glabrous or puberulent, margins ciliate distally;

collars glabrous or with hairs, hairs mostly to 0.5 mm, sides with tufts of 1.5-2 mm hairs;

ligules 0.4-2 mm, rounded to acute, abaxial surfaces hairy, hairs to 0.5 mm;

upper ligules 1-3 mm, similar in structure and pubescence;

blades 1-3.5 mm wide, abaxial surfaces smooth or scabrous, adaxial surfaces prominently ribbed, hairy, hairs 2-3 mm.

sheaths glabrous, usually smooth, brown or gray-brown;

collars glabrous, without tufts of hair at the sides;

basal ligules 1.5-6 mm, hyaline, rounded to acute, lacerate;

upper ligules to 8 mm, hyaline, acute, glabrous;

blades 0.5-2 mm wide, convolute, abaxial surfaces scabrous, adaxial surfaces scabrous or hairy, hairs about 0.3 mm.

2n

= unknown.

=34.

Achnatherum diegoense

Achnatherum thurberianum

Distribution
from FNA
CA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA; CO; ID; MT; NV; OR; UT; WA; WY
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Achnatherum diegoense grows in chaparral and coastal sage scrub, on rocky soil near streams or the coast, at 0-350 m, on the Channel Islands of Santa Barbara County, California, and, on the mainland, in Ventura and San Diego counties south into Baja California, Mexico.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Achnatherum thurberianum grows in canyons and foothills, primarily in sagebrush desert and juniper woodland associations, from Washington to southern Idaho and southwestern Montana and from California to Utah, at 900-3000 m. Its long ligules and pilose awns make it one of the easier North American species of Achnatherum to identify.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Source FNA vol. 24, p. 131. FNA vol. 24, p. 125.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Stipeae > Achnatherum Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Stipeae > Achnatherum
Sibling taxa
A. aridum, A. arnowiae, A. contractum, A. coronatum, A. curvifolium, A. eminens, A. hendersonii, A. hymenoides, A. latiglume, A. lemmonii, A. lettermanii, A. lobatum, A. nelsonii, A. nevadense, A. occidentale, A. parishii, A. perplexum, A. pinetorum, A. richardsonii, A. robustum, A. scribneri, A. splendens, A. stillmanii, A. swallenii, A. thurberianum, A. wallowaense, A. webberi, A. ×bloomeri
A. aridum, A. arnowiae, A. contractum, A. coronatum, A. curvifolium, A. diegoense, A. eminens, A. hendersonii, A. hymenoides, A. latiglume, A. lemmonii, A. lettermanii, A. lobatum, A. nelsonii, A. nevadense, A. occidentale, A. parishii, A. perplexum, A. pinetorum, A. richardsonii, A. robustum, A. scribneri, A. splendens, A. stillmanii, A. swallenii, A. wallowaense, A. webberi, A. ×bloomeri
Synonyms Stipa thurberiana
Name authority (Swallen) Barkworth (Piper) Barkworth
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