Flora of North America species comparison

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Pleuropogon refractus

nodding false semaphore grass, nodding semaphore grass
Habit Plants perennial; not cespitose, rhizomatous.
Culms

(85)100-150 cm, erect.
Sheaths

glabrous or pubescent, sometimes scabridulous;

ligules 2-7 mm;

blades 10-40 cm long, 5-14 mm wide, apices acute or acuminate and sharply mucronate, flag leaves often reduced to spinose tips.
Racemes

(10)20-35 cm, with 6-14 spikelets;

internodes 2-5.6(8) cm;

pedicels 2-3 mm long, reflexed at maturity.
Spikelets

(20)25-28 mm, pendent, with 7-14 florets, usually all but the terminal floret bisexual.
Glumes

frequently scabrous, apices obtuse, sometimes erosely notched;

lower glumes 3-6 mm;

upper glumes 4-7(8.3) mm, 3-veined;

rachilla internodes 2-3 mm long, about 0.1 mm thick, bases sometimes weakly differentiated into a glandular swelling;

lemmas 8-10 mm, faintly 7(9)-veined, lateral veins occasionally prominent, apices truncate, sometimes toothed, awned, awns (5)9-20 mm;

paleal keels each with a 0.2-0.6(1) mm triangular appendage;

anthers 3.5-4 mm.
Caryopses

4.5-6 mm.
2n

=32, 36.

Pleuropogon refractus
Distribution
from FNA
CA; OR; WA; BC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Pleuropogon refractus grows in wet meadows, riverbanks, and shady places, from sea level to about 1000 m. Its range extends from British Columbia south to California.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 24.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Meliceae > Pleuropogon
Sibling taxa
P. californicus, P. hooverianus, P. oregonus, P. sabinei
Name authority (A. Gray) Benth. ex Vasey
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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