Flora of North America species comparison

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Echinochloa crus-pavonis

Echinochloa crus var. macera

Echinochloa crus-galli

guleaf barnyard-grass, gulf barnyard grass, gulf cockspur grass
Photo is of parent taxon

awn barnyard grass, barnyard grass, common barnyard grass, echinochloa pied-de-coq, large barnyard-grass, or large barnyard grass
Habit Plants annual or short-lived perennials. Plants annual.
Culms

30-150 cm;

nodes glabrous.

30-200 cm, spreading, decumbent or stiffly erect;

nodes usually glabrous or the lower nodes puberulent.
Sheaths

glabrous, often purplish;

ligules absent;

blades 12-60 cm long, 10-25 mm wide, glabrous.

glabrous;

ligules absent, ligule region sometimes pubescent;

blades to 65 cm long, 5-30 mm wide, usually glabrous, occasionally sparsely hirsute.
Panicles

10-30 cm, erect or drooping, nodes sparsely hispid, hairs papillose-based, internodes glabrous;

primary branches to 14 cm, nodes sometimes sparsely hispid, hairs papillose-based, internodes usually glabrous;

secondary branches to 3 cm.

5-25 cm, with few-many papillose-based hairs at or below the nodes of the primary axes, hairs sometimes longer than the spikelets;

primary branches 1.5-10 cm, erect to spreading, longer branches with short, inconspicuous secondary branches, axes scabrous, sometimes also sparsely hispid, hairs to 5 mm, papillose-based.
Spikelets

2.5-3.4 mm long, 1.2-1.4 mm wide, disarticulating at maturity.

2.5-4 mm long, 1.1-2.3 mm wide, disarticulating at maturity.
Caryopses

1.2-1.5 mm long, 1-1.3 mm wide;

embryos 50-70% as long as the caryopses.

1.3-2.2 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide, ovoid or oblong, brownish;

embryos 59-86% as long as the caryopses.
Upper

glumes subequal to the spikelets;

lower florets sterile;

lower lemmas unawned or awned, awns 3-10(15) mm, curved;

lower paleas absent, vestigial, or well-developed;

upper lemmas narrowly elliptic, not or scarcely exceeding the upper glumes, acute or obtuse, with a well-differentiated, early-withering tip, glabrous or pubescent at the base of the tip, hairs not forming a line across the base;

anthers 0.5-0.7 mm.

glumes about as long as the spikelets;

lower florets sterile;

lower lemmas unawned to awned, sometimes varying within a branch, awns to 50 mm;

lower paleas subequal to the lemmas;

upper lemmas broadly ovate to elliptical, coriaceous portion rounded distally, passing abruptly into an early-withering, acuminate, membranous tip that is further demarcated from the coriaceous portion by a line of minute hairs (use 25x magnification);

anthers 0.5-1 mm.
2n

= 36.

= 54.

Echinochloa crus-pavonis

Echinochloa crus var. macera

Echinochloa crus-galli
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; FL; KS; LA; MD; MO; MS; NM; NV; OK; OR; TX; UT; PR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Echinochloa crus-pavonis is a native species found in scattered locations from British Columbia to Arizona, east to Florida, and south into South America. It favors marshes and wet places at lower elevations, often being found in the water.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Echinochloa crus-galli is a Eurasian species that is now widely established in the Flora region, where it grows in moist, disturbed sites, including rice fields. Some North American taxonomists have interpreted E. crus-galli much more widely; others treat it as here, but recognize several infraspecific taxa based on such characters as trichome length and abundance, and awn length. There are several ecological and physiological ecotypes within the species, but the correlation between these and the species' morphological variation has not been established, so no infraspecific taxa are recognized here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Lower paleas more than 1/2 as long as the lemmas; panicles usually drooping
E. crus var. crus-pavonis
1. Lower paleas absent or much less than 1/2 as long as the lemmas; panicles usually stiffly erect
E. crus var. macera
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 398. FNA vol. 25, p. 400.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Echinochloa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Echinochloa
Sibling taxa
E. colona, E. crus-galli, E. esculenta, E. frumentacea, E. muricata, E. oplismenoides, E. oryzicola, E. oryzoides, E. paludigena, E. polystachya, E. pyramidalis, E. walteri
E. colona, E. crus-pavonis, E. esculenta, E. frumentacea, E. muricata, E. oplismenoides, E. oryzicola, E. oryzoides, E. paludigena, E. polystachya, E. pyramidalis, E. walteri
Subordinate taxa
E. crus var. crus-pavonis, E. crus var. macera
Name authority unknown (L.) P. Beauv
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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