Andropogon longiberbis |
Andropogon gracilis |
|
---|---|---|
hairy bluestem |
wire bluestem |
|
Habit | Plants cespitose; cylindrical to oblong and more or less open in the upper portion. | Plants densely cespitose. |
Culms | 50-100(150) cm; internodes green, sometimes somewhat glaucous just below the node; branches mostly erect, straight. |
20-60 cm, wiry, glabrous. |
Sheaths | not scabrous; ligules 0.2-0.6 mm, ciliate, cilia 0.3-0.6 mm; blades 11-50 cm long, 2-5.5 mm wide, sparsely to densely pubescent, most hairs appressed. |
smooth; ligules to 1.4 mm; blades to 45 cm long, to 4 mm wide, involute and filiform, or folded. |
Inflorescence units | 7-97 (usually about 45) per culm; subtending sheaths (2.5)3-4.5(6) cm long, (2.5)3.2-4.1(5.5) mm wide; peduncles (1)3-4(13) mm, with 2(3) rames; rames (1.3)1.8-2.6(4) cm, not exserted at maturity, pubescence increasing in density distally within each internode. |
3-50+ per culm; peduncles 2-13.2 cm, with 1 rame; rames 2-4 cm, usually long-exserted at maturity; internodes densely pubescent, hairs to 8 mm. |
Sessile | spikelets (3.5)4.1-4.5(5) mm; callus hairs 1.5-5 mm; keels of lower glumes scabrous only above the midpoint; awns 10-21 mm; anthers 1, 0.9-1.6 mm, yellow. |
spikelets 4-6 mm; lower glumes scabrous in the distal 1/2; awns 11-20 mm. |
Pedicellate | spikelets vestigial or absent. |
spikelets reduced to an awned or unawned glume, sterile. |
2n | = 20. |
= 40. |
Andropogon longiberbis |
Andropogon gracilis |
|
Distribution |
FL; GA; MS; NC; SC
|
FL; PR; Virgin Islands |
Discussion | Andropogon longiberbis grows in sandy or rocky soils of roadsides, dunes, sandhills, pinelands, and fields, from the southeastern United States to the Bahamas. It resembles A. tracyi, but usually differs in having more densely pubescent blades and a less slender appearance. Andropogon longiberbis appears to hybridize with both A. virginicus var. virginicus and A. glomeratus var. pumilus. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Andropogon gracilis grows on oolite in openings and rocky margins of pine woodlands of southern Florida and the West Indies. Although not uncommon, it is frequently overlooked. It has sometimes been placed in Schizachyrium because of its solitary rames. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 661. | FNA vol. 25, p. 653. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Andropogon > sect. Leptopogon | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Andropogon > sect. Leptopogon |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | Schizachyrium sericatum, Schizachyrium gracile | |
Name authority | Hack. | Spreng. |
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