Bothriochloa alta
Bothriochloa hybrida
tall beardgrass, tall bluestem
hybrid beardgrass, hybrid 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.
30-80 cm, stiffly erect, moderately branched above the base;
nodes glabrous or puberulent.
cauline;
ligules 1-3 mm;
blades 20-30 cm long, 4-10 mm wide, glabrous or sparsely pilose near the base.
primarily cauline;
sheaths glabrous, green, sometimes glaucous;
ligules 1-2 mm;
blades 5-25 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, flat to folded, usually ciliate, with long hairs near the base and some hairs on the adaxial surface.
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.
5-12 cm, lanceolate;
rachises usually shorter than 5 cm;
branches 3-8, without axillary pulvini, lower branches longer than the rachises; at least the lower branches rebranched and with multiple rames;
rame internodes with 5-7 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 4.5-6.5 mm, narrowly ovate;
lower glumes 4.5-5.7(6.5) mm, sparsely hairy near the base, with a dorsal pit above the middle;
awns 18-25 mm;
anthers 0.5-1 mm.
spikelets 3.8-4.4 mm.
spikelets 2.2-3.6 mm, sterile.
= 120.
= 120.
Bothriochloa alta
Bothriochloa hybrida
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 hybrida grows in open grasslands, rangeland pastures, disturbed ground, and roadsides, often on calcareous soil, usually at 50-500 m. Its range extends from southern Texas and Louisiana to central Mexico. It resembles B. edwardsiana in some respects, but the latter species has a less robust habit, more predominantly basal foliage, and narrower leaf blades.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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