Chloris virgata
Chloris andropogonoides
feather finger grass, feather windmill-grass, showy chloris
slimspike windmill-grass
10-100+ cm.
10-40 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.
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 4-20, evidently distinct branches;
branches 5-10 cm, erect to ascending, 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, with 1 bisexual and 1(2) sterile floret(s).
with 1 bisexual and 1 sterile floret.
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.
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.
1.5-2 mm long, about 0.5 mm wide, elliptic.
1.3-1.4 mm long, about 0.4 mm wide, ellipsoid.
= 20, 26, 30, 40.
= 40.
Chloris virgata
Chloris andropogonoides
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.)
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.)
CA
Go Botany
KS Wildflowers
LA Plants
MD Biodiversity
MO Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
