Chloris virgata
feather finger grass, feather windmill-grass, showy chloris
10-100+ cm.
usually glabrous;
ligules to 4 mm, erose or ciliate;
blades to 30 cm long, to 15 mm wide, basal hairs to 4 mm, otherwise usually glabrous, occasionally pilose.
digitate, with 4-20, evidently distinct branches;
branches 5-10 cm, erect to ascending, averaging 10 spikelets per cm.
strongly imbricate, with 1 bisexual and 1(2) sterile floret(s).
1.5-2 mm long, about 0.5 mm wide, elliptic.
glumes 1.5-2.5 mm;
upper glumes 2.5-4.3 mm;
lowest lemmas 2.5-4.2 mm, keels usually prominently gibbous, glabrous, or conspicuously pilose, sides not grooved, margins glabrous, scabrous or pilose basally, with conspicuously longer hairs distally, hairs longer than 1.5 mm, lemma apices not conspicuously bilobed, awned, awns 2.5-15 mm;
second florets 1.4-2.9 mm long, 0.4-0.8 mm wide, somewhat widened distally, not inflated, bilobed, lobes less than 1/5 as long as the lemmas, awned from the sinuses, awns 3-9.5 mm;
third florets greatly reduced, unawned and shorter than the subtending rachilla segment or absent but the rachilla segment present.
= 20, 26, 30, 40.
Chloris virgata
Chloris virgata is a widespread species that grows in many habitats, from tropical to temperate areas with hot summers, including much of the United States. It is a common weed in alfalfa fields of the southwestern United States.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
CA
Go Botany
KS Wildflowers
LA Plants
MD Biodiversity
MO Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
