Bothriochloa springfieldii
Bothriochloa exaristata
Springfield bluestem, Springfield's beardgrass
awnless beardgrass, awnless bluestem
30-80 cm, erect, unbranched;
nodes prominently bearded, hairs 3-7 mm, spreading, silvery-white.
40-150 cm, erect;
nodes glabrous, uppermost node often concealed within the sheaths.
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, mostly glabrous;
sheaths with a white, powdery bloom;
ligules 1-2.2 mm;
blades 10-20 cm long, 3-6(8) mm wide, flat to folded.
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.
4.5-15 cm, lanceolate;
rachises with numerous branches;
branches shorter than the rachises, erect-appressed, lacking axillary pulvini;
rame internodes with a central groove about as wide as the margins, margins densely villous, hairs 4-6 mm, obscuring the spikelets.
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 2.5-4 mm long, 0.6-0.8 mm wide, narrowly ovate;
lower glumes glabrous or sparsely short-pilose, lacking a dorsal pit;
awns absent or to 6 mm;
anthers 0.5-1.5 mm.
spikelets 3.5-5.5 mm, sterile.
spikelets shorter than the sessile spikelets, sterile.
= 120.
= 60.
Bothriochloa springfieldii
Bothriochloa exaristata
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 exaristata grows in heavy soils of fields and roadsides of the Gulf coastal prairie, at 2-150 m, as well as in coastal areas of southern Brazil and adjacent Argentina, and inland along the Rio Pilcomayo to Paraguay. It has been reported from Los Angeles County, California. When growing in dense grassland thickets, B. exaristata has rather spindly basal growth, but branches abundantly from the middle and upper nodes.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
LA Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
