Chloris gayana
Chloris andropogonoides
Rhodes grass, Rhodes windmill-grass
slimspike windmill-grass
to 300 cm, erect.
10-40 cm.
glabrous or scabrous, often ciliate apically;
ligules ciliate;
blades to 30 cm long, 15 mm wide, scabrous.
glabrous;
ligules 0.5-0.8 mm, shortly ciliate;
blades to 15 cm long, to 1 mm wide, sometimes with basal hairs, mostly glabrous or scabrous.
digitate, with 9-30 evidently distinct branches;
branches 8-20 cm, usually somewhat divaricate, spikelet-bearing to the base, averaging 10 spikelets per cm.
with 6-13, evidently distinct branches, these usually digitate, sometimes with a second, poorly-developed whorl just below the terminal branches;
branches 4-14 cm, spreading, spikelet-bearing to the base, with 4-7 spikelets per cm;
disarticulation at the uppermost cauline node, panicles falling intact.
strongly imbricate, tawny, with 1 bisexual and (1)2-4 usually staminate, sometimes sterile florets.
with 1 bisexual and 1 sterile floret.
1.4-2.8 mm;
upper glumes 2.2-3.5 mm;
lowest lemmas 2.5-4.2 mm long, 0.7-1 mm wide, ovate to obovate or elliptic, somewhat gibbous, sides not grooved, pubescence variable, sides usually glabrous, sometimes scabrous or appressed pubescent, margins usually glabrous or appressed pubescent on the lower portions, sometimes throughout their length, sometimes with strongly divergent hairs distally, occasionally with strongly divergent hairs their entire length, divergent hairs, when present, 1+ mm, lemma apices inconspicuously bilobed, awned, awns 1.5-6.5 mm;
second florets staminate or sterile, 2.2-3.2 mm long, 0.3-1 mm wide, similar to the first floret but more cylindrical, not widened distally, inflated, if at all, only near the apices, inconspicuously bilobed, awned, awns 0.8-3.2 mm;
distal florets progressively smaller, longer than the subtending rachilla segment, awn-tipped or unawned.
2-2.3 mm;
upper glumes 3-3.3 mm;
lowest lemmas 1.9-2.7 mm long, 0.5-0.6 mm wide, lanceolate to elliptic, without conspicuous grooves on the sides, mostly glabrous but the margins and keels appressed pubescent with hairs less than 1 mm, apices acute, awned, awns 1.9-5.2 mm;
second florets 0.9-1.7 mm, 0.2-0.5 mm wide, narrowly cylindrical, obtuse, bilobed and awned, lobes less than 1/5 as long as the lemmas, awns 2.5-3.5 mm.
1-1.5 mm long, about 0.5 mm wide.
1.3-1.4 mm long, about 0.4 mm wide, ellipsoid.
= 20, 30, 40.
= 40.
Chloris gayana
Chloris andropogonoides
Chloris gayana grows in warm-temperate to tropical regions throughout the world, including the southern United States. It is cultivated as a meadow grass in irrigated regions of the southwest.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Chloris andropogonoides grows along grassy roadsides and prairie relicts of the coastal plain of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico.
Hybridization and introgression between Chloris cucullata, Chloris verticillata, and Chloris andropogonoides.
Anderson (1974, pp. 97-103) noted that Chloris cucullata, C. verticillata, and C. andropogonoides are sympatric in southern and central Texas, and often form mixed populations that include many apparent hybrids and introgressants. These plants combine the morphological features of their parents and often have highly irregular meiosis. Diploid counts of about 60 are common in some populations, but seed set is high even in populations with a high level of meiotic irregularity, suggesting apomixis. In some populations, no 'pure' parental plants are found, eliminated either through competition or hybridization. Some of the morphologically-distinct members of such hybrid complexes have been given formal names but, because morphologically-similar hybrids can have different origins, these names do not reflect true taxonomic entities. Among such names are C. hrevispica Nash, C. verticillata var. aristulata Torr. & A. Gray, C. verticillata var. intermdia Vasey, C. latisquamea Nash, and C. subdolichostachya Mull.-Hal. Plants belonging to such complexes are best named as hybrids between their parents, e.g. "Chloris verticillata x C. andropogonoides", or as being close to one of the probable parents, e.g., "close to Chloris andropogonoides E. Fourn."
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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