Andropogon ternarius
Andropogon floridanus
split bluestem, splitbeard bluestem
Florida bluestem
70-150 cm.
70-210 cm;
internodes occasionally somewhat glaucous just below the node;
branches straight, mostly erect to ascending.
smooth or scabrous, sometimes pilose;
ligules 0.4-1.5 mm, ciliate;
blades 1-3 mm wide, pubescent or glabrous and glaucous.
often scabrous, somteimes smooth;
ligules 0.4-1.2 mm, ciliate, cilia 0.2-1.3 mm;
blades 32-61 cm long, 2.9-5 mm wide, glabrous, rarely sparsely pubescent.
2-30+ per culm;
peduncles usually 5-20 mm, with (1)2 rames;
rames 3-4 cm, exerted at maturity, terminating in a sessile-pedicellate spikelet pair;
internodes sparsely to densely villous, hairs from as long as to twice as long as the sessile spikelets.
(9)50-210 per culm; subtending sheaths (3)4-5.9(7) cm long, (1.5)2-2.7(3.6) mm wide;
peduncles (10)19-48(93) mm, with 2(4) rames;
rames (2)2.5-3.7(4.5) cm, usually exserted at maturity, internodes evenly pubescent.
spikelets 4.5-8.4 mm;
callus hairs to 8 mm;
awns 10-25 mm;
anthers 3,1.2-2.3 mm.
spikelets (3.8)4.4-4.8(5.5) mm;
callus hairs 1-3 mm;
keels of lower glumes glabrous below midlength;
awns 5-15 mm;
anthers 1(3), 1.3-2 mm, usually yellow (sometimes purple).
spikelets 1.5-3.6 mm, sterile.
spikelets vestigial or absent.
= 40, 60.
= 20.
Andropogon ternarius
Andropogon floridanus
Andropogon ternarius grows in the southeastern United States and northern Mexico. It is planted as an ornamental and for erosion control on slopes in poor and sandy soils, and is tolerant of coastal conditions.
Andropogon ternarius is similar to A. arctatus but differs in its possession of three anthers and usually in its longer spikelets, both sessile and pedicellate.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Andropogon floridanus grows on sandy soils in southeastern Georgia and Florida, being most abundant in Pinus clausa scrublands. It usually occurs in small stands, but stands of about a hundred individuals have been observed.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Rames densely villous, with hairs about twice as long as the sessile spikelets and more or less obscuring them; lower glumes of the sessile spikelets sometimes scabrous, without conspicuous veins between the keels | var. cabanisii |
1. Rames sparsely villous, with hairs about as long as the sessile spikelets, but not obscuring them; lower glumes of the sessile spikelets scabrous, often conspicuously 2-veined between the keels | var. ternarius |
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