Bothriochloa springfieldii
Bothriochloa laguroides
Springfield bluestem, Springfield's beardgrass
silver beardgrass, silver bluestem
30-80 cm, erect, unbranched;
nodes prominently bearded, hairs 3-7 mm, spreading, silvery-white.
35-115(130) cm tall, usually less than 2 mm thick, erect or geniculate at the base, branched at maturity;
nodes shortly hirsute, pilose with erect hairs, or glabrous.
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.
usually basal (sometimes cauline on robust plants), usually glaucous;
ligules 1-3 mm;
blades 5-25 cm long, 2-7 mm wide, flat to folded, 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.
4-12(14) cm, narrowly oblong or lanceolate, silvery-white or light tan;
rachises 4-8 cm, with more than 10 branches;
branches 1-5.5 cm, erect-appressed, rarely with axillary pulvini, lower branches shorter than the rachises, usually with more than 1 rame;
rame internodes with a groove wider than the margins, margins copiously hairy, hairs 3-9 mm, at least somewhat 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 2.5-4.5 mm, ovate, somewhat glaucous, apices blunt;
lower glumes glabrous or hirtellous, rarely with a dorsal pit;
awns 8-16 mm;
anthers 0.6-1.4 mm.
spikelets 3.5-5.5 mm, sterile.
spikelets 1.5-2.5(3.5) mm, shorter than the sessile spikelets, sterile.
= 120.
= 60.
Bothriochloa springfieldii
Bothriochloa laguroides
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 laguroides grows in well-drained soils of grasslands, prairies, roadsides, river bottoms, and woodlands, often on limestone, usually at 20-2100 m. Plants from the United States and northern Mexico belong to B. laguroides subsp. torreyana (Steud.) Allred & Gould, which differs from B. laguroides (DC.) Herter subsp. laguroides in its glabrous, or almost glabrous, nodes, long internode hairs, and pilose throat region. Occasional plants are found with spreading branches and axillary pulvini; they do not merit formal recognition. Bothriochloa laguroides subsp. torreyana is used in landscaping. It does well on rocky slopes and sandy banks.
Bothriochloa laguroides has been confused with B. saccharoides (Sw.) Rydb., a more southern species that differs from B. laguroides in having pilose leaves, a narrow central groove in the internodes and pedicels, and panicle branches with axillary pulvini.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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