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guleaf barnyard-grass, gulf barnyard grass, gulf cockspur grass

Japanese millet

Photo is of parent taxon
Habit Plants annual or short-lived perennials. Plants annual.
Culms

30-150 cm;

nodes glabrous.

80-150 cm tall, 4-10 mm thick, glabrous.

Sheaths

glabrous, often purplish;

ligules absent;

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

glabrous;

ligules absent, ligule region sometimes pubescent;

blades 10-50 cm long, 5-25 mm wide.

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.

7-30 cm, dense, rachis nodes densely hispid, hairs papillose-based, internodes scabrous;

primary branches 2-5 cm, erect or spreading, simple or branched, often incurved at maturity, nodes hispid, hairs papillose-based, internodes usually scabrous;

longer pedicels 0.5-1 mm.

Spikelets

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

3-4 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, not or only tardily disarticulating at maturity, obtuse to shortly acute, purplish to blackish-brown at maturity.

Caryopses

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

embryos 50-70% as long as the caryopses.

1.2-2.3 mm, brownish;

embryos 84-96% 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 narrower and shorter than the upper lemmas;

lower florets sterile;

lower lemmas usually unawned;

lower paleas shorter and narrower than the lemmas;

upper lemmas longer and wider than the upper glumes, broadly ovate to ovate-orbicular, shortly apiculate, exposed distally at maturity;

anthers 1-1.2 mm.

2n

= 36.

= 54.

Echinochloa crus-pavonis

Echinochloa esculenta

Echinochloa crus var. macera

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 FNA
CA; FL; MO; NY; HI
[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 esculenta was derived from E. crus-galli in Japan, Korea, and China. It is cultivated for fodder, grain, or birdseed. It has sometimes been included in E. frumentacea, from which it differs in its brownish caryopses and longer pedicels. Hybrids between E. crus-galli and E. esculenta are fully fertile, but those with E. frumentacea are sterile.

(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. 402.
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-galli, E. crus-pavonis, 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 (A. Braun) H. Scholtz
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