Bothriochloa alta
Bothriochloa bladhii
tall beardgrass, tall bluestem
Australian beardgrass, Australian bluestem, Caucasian bluestem
1.3-2.5 m tall, 2-4 mm wide, stiffly erect, not or only sparingly branched;
nodes hirsute, hairs 2-6 mm, stiff, spreading, tan;
internodes glaucous below the nodes.
40-90(150) cm, usually erect;
nodes glabrous or short hispid, with mostly appressed, less than 2 mm hairs.
cauline;
ligules 1-3 mm;
blades 20-30 cm long, 4-10 mm wide, glabrous or sparsely pilose near the base.
cauline;
ligules 0.5-1.5 mm;
blades (10)20-35(40) cm long, 1-4.5(5.5) mm wide, mostly glabrous.
14-25 cm long on the larger shoots, 3-6 cm wide when pressed, oblong, dense;
rachises 10-20 cm, with numerous branches, rachises and branches kinked and wavy at the base from being compressed in the sheath;
branches 2-8 cm, much shorter than the rachises, erect to appressed, with multiple rames;
rame internodes villous on the margins, with 5-8 mm distal hairs.
5-15(24) cm, elliptic to lanceolate, reddish at maturity;
rachises 6-12(20) cm, with numerous branches;
branches 3-7 cm, shorter than the rachises, erect to spreading during anthesis, with axillary pulvini, lower branches with multiple rames;
rame internodes with darkened grooves, with sparse, about 1 mm marginal hairs.
spikelets 4.5-6 mm, ovate;
lower glumes shortly pilose, with or without a dorsal pit;
awns 18-22 mm;
anthers about 1 mm, often remaining in the floret, light brown.
spikelets 3.5-4 mm, oblong-ovate;
lower glumes glabrous or scabrous, with or without a dorsal pit;
awns 10-17 mm, twisted, geniculate;
anthers 1-2 mm.
spikelets 3.8-4.4 mm.
spikelets about the same size and shape as the sessile spikelets, or about 1/2 their size, staminate or sterile.
= 120.
= 40, 60, 80.
Bothriochloa alta
Bothriochloa bladhii
Bothriochloa alta grows along roads, drainage ways, and gravelly slopes in the desert grasslands of the south-western United States, at 600-1200 m, and extends south to Bolivia and Argentina. It is not a common species in the Flora region. It often grows with and is mistaken for B. barbinodis, but differs from that species in having longer culms, panicles, and nodal hairs, and 2n = 120. Plants in the southwestern United States have larger spikelets and more hairy panicles than those of central Mexico, where the species was originally described.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Bothriochloa bladhii grows along roadsides and in rangeland pastures, waste ground, and open disturbed areas, at 150-1800 m. It is native to subtropical Asia and Africa and was introduced to the Flora region as a forage grass. It is now established in the southern and central United States. A similar species, B. decipiens (Hack.) C.E. Hubb., has been grown at some experiment stations in the United States. It is not known to be established in North America. Bothriochloa decipiens differs from B. bladhii in having longer (4.7-5.3 mm) sessile spikelets and a single anther.
The Eastern Hemisphere species of Bothriochloa are thought to be closely related to Capillipedium and Dichanthium, largely because B. bladhii hybridizes with those genera as well as with B. ischaemum.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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