Bothriochloa springfieldii
Bothriochloa bladhii
Springfield bluestem, Springfield's beardgrass
Australian beardgrass, Australian bluestem, Caucasian bluestem
30-80 cm, erect, unbranched;
nodes prominently bearded, hairs 3-7 mm, spreading, silvery-white.
40-90(150) cm, usually erect;
nodes glabrous or short hispid, with mostly appressed, less than 2 mm hairs.
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 0.5-1.5 mm;
blades (10)20-35(40) cm long, 1-4.5(5.5) mm wide, mostly glabrous.
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.
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 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 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 3.5-5.5 mm, sterile.
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 springfieldii
Bothriochloa bladhii
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 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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