Bothriochloa springfieldii
Bothriochloa alta
Springfield bluestem, Springfield's beardgrass
tall beardgrass, tall bluestem
30-80 cm, erect, unbranched;
nodes prominently bearded, hairs 3-7 mm, spreading, silvery-white.
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;
ligules 1-2.5 mm;
blades 5-30 cm long, 2-3(5) mm wide, flat to folded, glabrous or sparsely hispid adaxially, pilose near the throat.
cauline;
ligules 1-3 mm;
blades 20-30 cm long, 4-10 mm wide, glabrous or sparsely pilose near the base.
4-9 cm, oblong to fan-shaped;
rachises 1-5 cm, with 2-9 branches;
branches 4-8 cm, longer than the rachises, with 1(2) rames;
rame internodes with a membranous groove wider than the margins, margins densely white-villous, hairs 5-10 mm, obscuring the sessile spikelets.
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 5.5-8.5 mm, lanceolate;
lower glumes densely short-pilose on the lower M, sometimes with a dorsal pit;
awns 18-26 mm;
anthers 1-1.5 mm.
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 3.5-5.5 mm, sterile.
spikelets 3.8-4.4 mm.
= 120.
= 120.
Bothriochloa springfieldii
Bothriochloa alta
Bothriochloa springfieldii grows in rocky uplands, ravines, plains, sandy areas, and roadsides, from southern Utah to western Texas and Mexico at 900-2500 m. and, as a disjunct in northwest Louisiana. It differs from B. barbinodis in its less robust habit, narrower blades, longer nodal hairs, and fewer, more hairy panicle branches, and from B. edwardsiana in its pubescent nodes and wider, non-ciliate leaf blades.
(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.)
LA Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
