Chloris gayana
Chloris barbata
Rhodes grass, Rhodes windmill-grass
swollen fingergrass, swollen windmill-grass
to 300 cm, erect.
15-95 cm, erect or decumbent and rooting at the lower nodes.
glabrous or scabrous, often ciliate apically;
ligules ciliate;
blades to 30 cm long, 15 mm wide, scabrous.
glabrous;
ligules 0.3-0.5 mm, erose to lacerate;
blades to 15 cm long, 0.3-0.6 mm wide, with basal hairs, otherwise usually glabrous.
digitate, with 9-30 evidently distinct branches;
branches 8-20 cm, usually somewhat divaricate, spikelet-bearing to the base, averaging 10 spikelets per cm.
digitate, with 7-15 evidently distinct branches;
branches 3-8 cm, more or less erect, averaging 14 spikelets per cm.
strongly imbricate, tawny, with 1 bisexual and (1)2-4 usually staminate, sometimes sterile florets.
with 1 bisexual and 2(3) sterile florets.
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.
1.2-2.1 mm;
upper glumes 2.3-2.7 mm;
lowest lemmas 2-2.7 mm, ovate to elliptic, calluses and distal portion of the margins pilose, hairs to 1 mm, keels glabrous or pilose, apices awned, awns 4-7.7 mm;
second florets 0.9-1.3 mm long, 0.4-0.9 mm wide, slightly to strongly widened distally, inflated, usually glabrous, truncate, awned, awns 5-7 mm;
third florets obovoid to subspherical, smaller than the first, strongly inflated.
1-1.5 mm long, about 0.5 mm wide.
1.1-1.4 mm.
= 20, 30, 40.
= 20, 40, ca. 50.
Chloris gayana
Chloris barbata
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 barbata grows in subtropical and tropical coastal regions on loams, limestone-derived soils, and along beaches. The main portion of its range lies to the south of the Flora region, through the Caribbean and the east coast of Mexico, Central America, and South America. It is a weedy species, often growing in waste areas, but also in cultivated fields.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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