Bothriochloa alta
Bothriochloa longipaniculata
tall beardgrass, tall bluestem
longspike beardgrass, longspike silver 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.
60-150(200) cm tall, 2-4 mm thick, robust;
nodes glabrous or shortly hirsute.
cauline;
ligules 1-3 mm;
blades 20-30 cm long, 4-10 mm wide, glabrous or sparsely pilose near the base.
cauline, evenly distributed, glabrous, dark green;
ligules 2.5-3 mm;
blades 12-20 cm long, (3)4-7 mm wide, flat to folded.
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.
9-20 cm, narrowly lanceolate, silvery-white or light tan;
rachises 7-15 cm, with numerous branches;
branches 3-5 cm, shorter than the rachises, erect, without axillary pulvini, with multiple rames;
rame internodes with a membranous groove wider than the margins, margins copiously hairy, hairs 3-8 mm, at least somewhat obscuring the spikelets.
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)3.5-4.5 mm, narrowly ovate to lanceolate, shiny green, apices acute;
lower glumes hirtellous on the lower 1/2, hairs shorter than 0.8 mm, lacking a dorsal pit;
awns 9-14 mm;
anthers 1-2 mm.
spikelets 3.8-4.4 mm.
spikelets 1.8-2.8 mm, sterile.
= 120.
= 120.
Bothriochloa alta
Bothriochloa longipaniculata
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 longipaniculata grows at 2-200 m, along roadsides and in fields, open woodlands, disturbed ground, and swales of the Gulf coastal prairie, often in heavy clay soil. Its range extends from southern Texas and Louisiana to northeastern Mexico and possibly Panama.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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