The green links below add additional plants to the comparison table. Blue links lead to other Web sites.
enable glossary links

Chilean needlegrass, Chilean tussockgrass

Andean tussockgrass, tropical needlegrass

Habit Plants perennial; shortly rhizomatous, appearing cespitose, rhizomes slender, somewhat woody. Plants perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous.
Culms

30-100 cm tall, 0.4-0.7 mm thick, bases somewhat bulblike, erect, geniculate and often branching intra-vaginally at the lower cauline nodes, internodes glabrous;

nodes 5-8+, glabrous.

40-80 cm tall, 1.5-2.5 mm thick, erect, internodes glabrous;

nodes 2-3, pubescent.

Sheaths

mostly glabrous, throats sometimes ciliate;

collars sparsely hairy, with tufts of hair at the sides, hairs 0.5-1.3 mm;

ligules 0.2-0.3 mm, truncate, usually ciliate;

blades 3-10 cm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, strongly convolute, stiff, abaxial surfaces glabrous, adaxial surfaces with coarse hairs.

glabrous;

collars mostly glabrous, with tufts of hair at the sides, hairs 0.5-1 mm;

ligules 0.1-0.3 mm, glabrous, truncate;

blades 12-25 cm long, 1.5-2.5 mm wide, flat to convolute, pubescent.

Panicles

2-20 cm;

branches 0.4-1.2 cm, with 1-4 spikelets;

pedicels 0.5-4 mm.

10-20 cm, open;

branches 1-3 cm, ascending to somewhat spreading, scabridulous, with 1-8 spikelets;

pedicels 1-8 mm, pubescent.

Glumes

subequal, 3-4.5 mm long, 1.1-1.6 mm wide, ovate, 3-veined, glabrous or puberulent, acuminate;

florets 1.6-2.2 mm long, 0.6-0.9 mm wide, obovate to oblong, terete, widest near the top;

calluses 0.2-0.3 mm, obtuse, glabrous;

lemmas glabrous, smooth, lustrous, transition to the crown not evident;

crowns about 0.1 mm long and wide, not differing in texture from the lemmas;

awns 7-10 mm, eccentric, rapidly deciduous;

anthers about 1 mm or 0.3-0.4 mm, florets with longer anthers presumably chasmogamous, those with shorter anthers presumably cleistogamous.

subequal, 10-15 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, narrowly lanceolate, 3-veined, keeled, keels scabrous;

florets 6-8 mm long, 0.9-1.1 mm wide, terete, widest near or slightly above midlength;

calluses 1.5-2.5 mm, sharp, strigose;

lemmas papillose-tuberculate, constricted and purplish below the crown, midveins and exposed marginal veins pubescent over the proximal 2/3, glabrous between the veins at maturity;

crowns about 1 mm long, about 0.5 mm wide, conspicuous, more or less straight-sided, purple, rims with 1-1.5 mm hairs;

awns 30-50 mm, clearly twice-geniculate, terminal segment straight;

anthers 3-4 mm in putatively chasmogamous florets, 0.3-0.5 mm in cleistogamous florets, both ranges sometimes present within a panicle.

Caryopses

about 1 mm.

about 3 mm.

2n

= 42.

= unknown.

Nassella chilensis

Nassella manicata

Distribution
from FNA
OR
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
CA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Nassella chilensis is an Andean species that was once collected from a ballast dump in Portland, Oregon. It is not established in the Flora region.

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

Nassella manicata is native to Ecuador, Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, growing on the foothills of the Andes Mountains. It is established in three California counties, growing in disturbed sites, including grazed meadows and old gold tailings. It has also been recorded from Mississippi; it is not known whether the Mississippi population has persisted.

Nassella manicata resembles N. leucotricha and N. pulchra. It differs from both in its shorter florets and more strongly developed crowns. It was misidentified as Nassella formicarum (Delile) Barkworth in the Jepson Manual (Barkworth 1993).

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

Source FNA vol. 24, p. 177. FNA vol. 24, p. 174.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Stipeae > Nassella Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Stipeae > Nassella
Sibling taxa
N. cernua, N. lepida, N. leucotricha, N. manicata, N. neesiana, N. pulchra, N. tenuissima, N. trichotoma, N. viridula
N. cernua, N. chilensis, N. lepida, N. leucotricha, N. neesiana, N. pulchra, N. tenuissima, N. trichotoma, N. viridula
Name authority (Trin.) E. Desv. (E. Desv.) Barkworth
Web links