Oplismenus hirtellus |
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bamboo grass, basketgrass, bristle basketgrass |
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Habit | Plants perennial. | ||||||||
Culms | to 90 cm, mostly decumbent and rooting at the nodes, distal 15-35 cm ascending when flowering; nodes usually pubescent; internodes usually pubescent along 1 side (sometimes glabrous). |
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Sheaths | conspicuously ciliate on the margins; ligules 0.4-1.6(2.3) mm, ciliate; blades (0.6)1.3-11.5 cm long, 2-20 mm wide, glabrous, scabrous, or pubescent, margin(s) usually undu-lating. |
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Panicles | (1.5)2.5-16.5 cm, with 2-10 primary branches; branches 0.1-2.5 cm. |
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Spikelets | 2.2-3.5(4.5) mm; calluses shortly pubescent at the base awns usually purplish. |
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Lower glumes | 1.5-3 mm, scabridulous and/or pubescent, 3-5-veined, awns (1.6)3.2-14.5 mm; upper glumes 1.5-2.5 mm, sparsely pubescent, 5-7-veined, awns 0.8-6(10) mm; lower florets usually sterile, occasionally staminate; lower lemmas 2.2-3.1 mm, sparsely pubescent above, (5)7-9-veined, awns 0.1-1.2 mm; lower paleas absent or to 2.3 mm, hyaline; upper lemmas (2.1)2.3-3 mm, glabrous, weakly cartilaginous, white to cream-colored; anthers 3, 1.3-1.7 mm. |
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Caryopses | 1.7-1.8 mm long, 0.5-0.9 mm wide, glabrous. |
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2n | = 36, (54), 72, (90). |
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Oplismenus hirtellus |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; OK; SC; TX; VA; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
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Discussion | Oplismenus hirtellus grows at scattered locations in the southeastern United States, extending south in subtropical and tropical habitats to Argentina. Scholz (1981) recognized 11 subspecies and two forms within the species, but they overlap, both morphologically and geographically. The key below is included for convenience. It includes the three subspecies attributed to the Flora region. In addition, a variegated form culti (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 390. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | |||||||||
Subordinate taxa | |||||||||
Synonyms | O. hirtellus subsp. setarius, O. hirtellus subsp. fasciculatus | ||||||||
Name authority | (L.) P. Beauv. | ||||||||
Web links |