Bothriochloa springfieldii
Bothriochloa pertusa
Springfield bluestem, Springfield's beardgrass
pitted beardgrass, pitted bluestem
30-80 cm, erect, unbranched;
nodes prominently bearded, hairs 3-7 mm, spreading, silvery-white.
to 100 cm, often decumbent or stoloniferous, freely branching;
nodes bearded.
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.
mostly basal, green, sometimes glaucous;
sheaths glabrous, keeled;
ligules 0.7-1.5 mm;
blades 3-15 cm long, 3-4 mm wide, flat, margins and ligule regions hairy.
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.
3-5 cm, fan-shaped, often purplish;
rachises 0.2-2 cm, with 3-8 branches;
branches 3-4.5 cm, longer than the rachises, usually with 1 rame;
rame internodes with villous margins, 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 mm, lanceolate;
callus hairs about 1 mm;
lower glumes sparsely hirtellous, with a prominent dorsal pit near the middle;
awns 10-17 mm;
anthers 1-1.8 mm, yellow.
spikelets 3.5-5.5 mm, sterile.
spikelets the same size as the sessile spikelets, sterile, pitted or not, occasionally with 2 pits.
= 120.
= 40, 60.
Bothriochloa springfieldii
Bothriochloa pertusa
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 pertusa is native to the Eastern Hemisphere, and was introduced to the southern United States as a warm-season pasture grass. It now grows in disturbed, moist, grassy places and pastures in the region, at elevations of 2-200 m. It has not persisted at all locations shown on the map.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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USDA Plants Database
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