Bouteloua aristidoides |
Bouteloua trifida |
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needle grama |
red grama, three-awn grama |
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Habit | Plants annual; tufted. | Plants perennial; cespitose, older plants occasionally shortly rhizomatous. | ||||||||
Culms | 4-60 cm, outer culms of a tuft decumbent, sometimes geniculate, branched at the lower nodes. |
5-40 cm, slender, wiry, erect or slightly geniculate at the lower nodes; lower internodes glabrous, shorter than those above. |
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Leaves | mostly basal; sheaths glabrous, sometimes scabridu-lous, becoming flattened, persistent; ligules 0.2-0.5 mm, of hairs; blades 0.7-8 cm long, 0.5-1.5(2) mm wide, scabridulous, margins often with papillose-based hairs basally. |
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Panicles | 2.5-10.5 cm, with (1)4-15 branches; branches 5-45 mm, deciduous, densely pubescent (at least basally), with 2-10 spikelets per branch, axes extending 2-10 mm beyond the base of the terminal spikelets, apices entire; disarticulation at the base of the branches, the break forming a sharp tip. |
3-9 cm, with 2-7 branches; branches 7-25 mm, persistent, spreading, ascending, or appressed, straight to slightly arcuate, with 8-24(32) spikelets, axes terminating in a spikelet; disarticulation above the glumes. |
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Spikelets | appressed. |
appressed to pectinate, reddish-purple; with 1 bisexual floret and 1 rudimentary floret. |
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Glumes | bilobed; lower glumes 1.7-3.4 mm, slightly shorter than the upper glumes, veins excurrent to 0.6 mm; upper glumes 1.9-4 mm, glabrous or pubescent, hairs not papillose-based, veins excurrent to 1 mm; lower lemmas 1.2-2.2 mm, glabrous, sparsely appressed pubescent along the veins or densely appressed pubescent for much of their length and on the margins, trilobed, lobes veined, tapering into 3 awns, awns 2.2-6.6 mm, central awns not flanked by membranous lobes; anthers 0.2-0.4 mm, yellow; rachilla segments glabrous; upper florets glabrous, of 3 equal awns, awns 2-7 mm. |
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Caryopses | 2.5-3 mm. |
0.8-1.5 mm long, 0.3-0.6 mm wide. |
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Ligules | 0.2-0.5 mm, membranous, lacerate or ciliate; blades 2-5(9) cm long, 0.7-2 mm wide, flat or folded, adaxial surfaces sometimes with papillose-based hairs, margins usually with papillose-based hairs near the ligules. |
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Proximal | spikelet on each branch with 1 floret; lower glumes 1.5-3.5 mm, glabrous, narrow to subulate; upper glumes 5.5-6.2 mm, densely pubescent, at least on the basal 1/2; lemmas 5.8-6 mm, acuminate, unawned; lowest paleas almost as long as the lemmas, bifid, glabrous; rachillas prolonged beyond the florets for about 0.5 mm. |
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Distal | spikelets with 1 bisexual and 1 rudimentary floret, glumes unequal, glabrous, minutely scabrous on the keels; narrowly acute or acuminate; lower glumes 1.5-2 mm; upper glumes 5-6 mm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent basally, often divergent; lowest lemmas 6-8 mm, veins pubescent, lateral veins excurrent as short (to 1 mm) awns, acuminate, midvein extended into a setaceous tip or a short awn; lowest paleas 5-7 mm, bifid, veins often excurrent as short awns; anthers about 2.5 mm, yellow or yellow and red; distal florets reduced to a pubescent, 3-awned, awn column, awns 2-7 mm, exserted. |
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2n | = 40. |
= 20. |
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Bouteloua aristidoides |
Bouteloua trifida |
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Distribution |
AZ; CA; MD; NM; NV; TX; UT
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AZ; CA; NM; NV; TX; UT
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Discussion | There are two varieties, both of which grow in the Flora region. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Bouteloua trifida grows on dry open plains, shrubby hills, and rocky slopes, at 2200-2500 m. Its range extends from the southwestern United States to central Mexico. It is a drought-resistant species that is sometimes mistaken for Aristida because of its delicate, cespitose growth habit and purplish, 3-awned spikelets. Juvenile plants may also be confused with B. barbata but that species is annual, with the central awn flanked by two membranous lobes and the lowest paleas 4-lobed and 2-awned. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 255. | FNA vol. 25, p. 264. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Bouteloua > subg. Bouteloua | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Bouteloua > subg. Chondrosum | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Name authority | (Kunth) Griseb. | Thurb. ex S. Watson | ||||||||
Web links |