Chloris gayana
Chloris ciliata
Rhodes grass, Rhodes windmill-grass
fringe windmill-grass
to 300 cm, erect.
25-60 cm, erect.
glabrous or scabrous, often ciliate apically;
ligules ciliate;
blades to 30 cm long, 15 mm wide, scabrous.
glabrous;
ligules absent or 0.3-0.4 mm, ciliate;
blades 10-20 cm long, about 5 mm wide, sometimes with long basal hairs, otherwise 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.
digitate, with 2-5(7) evidently distinct branches;
branches 3.5-6(8) cm, ascending to spreading.
strongly imbricate, tawny, with 1 bisexual and (1)2-4 usually staminate, sometimes sterile florets.
imbricate, with 1 bisexual and 2 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.
1.3-1.7 mm;
upper glumes 2-2.5 mm;
lowest lemmas 1.8-2.8 mm long, 0.8-1.1 mm wide, strongly laterally compressed, elliptic, margins and keels conspicuously hairy, hairs 0.5-1.5 mm, apices awned, awns 0.9-1.4 mm;
second florets 1.3-1.8 mm long, 0.8-1.8 mm wide, widened distally, not inflated, truncate, enclosing the distal florets, awned, awns 0.9-1.4 mm;
distal florets 0.8-1.1 mm long, 0.9-1.2 mm wide, as long as or longer than the subtending rachilla segments, unawned.
1-1.5 mm long, about 0.5 mm wide.
about 1.4 mm long, 0.7 mm wide.
= 20, 30, 40.
= 40.
Chloris gayana
Chloris ciliata
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 ciliata is a native species of grasslands from the Gulf Coast of Texas, through the Caribbean islands and Mexico to Central America, then, as a disjunct, in Argentina. Argentinean plants differ from northern plants in having long hairs associated with their basal ligules, but no other differences are known. It has been found, as an introduction, in New York.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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