Bothriochloa springfieldii
Bothriochloa ischaemum
Springfield bluestem, Springfield's beardgrass
King ranch bluestem, old world bluestem, yellow bluestem
30-80 cm, erect, unbranched;
nodes prominently bearded, hairs 3-7 mm, spreading, silvery-white.
30-80(95) cm, stiffly erect;
nodes glabrous or short hirsute.
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.
tending to be basal;
ligules 0.5-1.5 mm;
blades 5-25 cm long, 2-4.5 mm wide, flat to folded, glabrous or with long, scattered hairs at the base of the blade.
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.
5-10 cm, fan-shaped, silvery reddish-purple;
rachises 0.5-2 cm, with (1)2-8 branches;
branches 3-9 cm, longer than the rachises, erect to somewhat spreading from the axillary pulvini, usually with only 1 rame;
rame internodes with a central groove narrower than the margins, margins ciliate, with 1-3 mm 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 3-4.5 mm, narrowly ovate;
lower glumes hirsute below, with about 1 mm hairs, lacking a dorsal pit;
awns 9-17 mm, twisted, geniculate;
anthers 1-2 mm.
spikelets 3.5-5.5 mm, sterile.
spikelets about as long as the sessile spikelets, but usually narrower, sterile or staminate.
= 120.
= 40, 50, 60.
Bothriochloa springfieldii
Bothriochloa ischaemum
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 ischaemum. grows along roadsides and in waste ground and rangeland pastures, at 50-1200 m. It is native to southern Europe and Asia. It was introduced to the United States for erosion control along right of ways and for livestock forage in the southwest. It is now established in the region and has spread along roadsides into other central and southern states. There are two variants that are sometimes recognized as varieties, plants with glabrous nodes being called B. ischaemum var. ischaemum and plants with pubescent nodes being called B. ischaemum var. songarica (Rupr. ex Fisch. & C.A. Mey.) Celarier & J.R. Harlan. The varieties are not recognized here.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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