Bothriochloa pertusa
Bothriochloa alta
pitted beardgrass, pitted bluestem
tall beardgrass, tall bluestem
to 100 cm, often decumbent or stoloniferous, freely branching;
nodes bearded.
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.
mostly basal, green, sometimes glaucous;
sheaths glabrous, keeled;
ligules 0.7-1.5 mm;
blades 3-15 cm long, 3-4 mm wide, flat, margins and ligule regions hairy.
cauline;
ligules 1-3 mm;
blades 20-30 cm long, 4-10 mm wide, glabrous or sparsely pilose near the base.
3-5 cm, fan-shaped, often purplish;
rachises 0.2-2 cm, with 3-8 branches;
branches 3-4.5 cm, longer than the rachises, usually with 1 rame;
rame internodes with villous margins, with 1-3 mm hairs.
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.
spikelets 3-4 mm, lanceolate;
callus hairs about 1 mm;
lower glumes sparsely hirtellous, with a prominent dorsal pit near the middle;
awns 10-17 mm;
anthers 1-1.8 mm, yellow.
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 the same size as the sessile spikelets, sterile, pitted or not, occasionally with 2 pits.
spikelets 3.8-4.4 mm.
= 40, 60.
= 120.
Bothriochloa pertusa
Bothriochloa alta
Bothriochloa pertusa is native to the Eastern Hemisphere, and was introduced to the southern United States as a warm-season pasture grass. It now grows in disturbed, moist, grassy places and pastures in the region, at elevations of 2-200 m. It has not persisted at all locations shown on the map.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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.)
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