Flora of North America species comparison

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Polypogon australis

Polypogon maritimus

Chilean beard grass, Chilean rabbit's-foot grass

Mediterranean beard grass, Mediterranean rabbitsfoot grass

Habit Plants perennial. Plants annual.
Culms

20-100 cm.

(5)20-40 (50) cm, geniculate.
Sheaths

smooth to scabridulous;

ligules 1-3(4) mm, rounded to broadly acute, erose;

blades 13-17 cm long, 5-7 mm wide, scabrous.

glabrous, smooth, uppermost sheaths sometimes inflated;

ligules to 7 mm;

blades (1)3-9 (14) cm long, 0.5-5 mm wide.
Panicles

8-15 cm, lobed or interrupted, usually purplish;

pedicels absent or vestigial;

stipes 0.3-0.5 mm.

(1)2-8(15) cm, narrowly ellipsoid, dense, sometimes lobed, often purplish;

pedicels to about 0.5 mm, capillary;

stipes 0.1-1.2 mm.
Glumes

1.5-3 mm, smooth to echinate, margins ciliate, apices acute to truncate, unlobed or lobed, lobes to 0.1 mm, awned, awns (3)4-6 mm, flexuous;

lemmas 1-1.3 mm, awned, awns 2-3.5 mm, flexuous;

paleas from shorter than to subequal to the lemmas;

anthers 0.3-0.5 mm.

1.8-3.2 mm, hispidulous basally, hairs sometimes strongly inflated and obtuse, apices lobed, lobes 0.3-1.2 mm, more than 1/6 the length of the glume body, awned from the sinus, awns (4)7-12 mm;

lemmas 0.5-1.5 mm, unawned or awned, awns shorter than 1 mm;

paleas subequal to the lemmas;

anthers 0.4-0.5 mm.
2n

= unknown.

= 14.

Polypogon australis

Polypogon maritimus
Distribution
from FNA
AZ; CA; NV; WA
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from FNA
CA; FL; GA; NV; SC
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[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Polypogon australis is native to South America. It has become established in western North America, where it grows alongside ditches and streams. The records from Washington and Oregon are from ballast dumps; it is not known from recent collections in those states.

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

Polypogon maritimus grows in disturbed, moist places, from sea level to 700 m. It is a Mediterranean species that now occurs at scattered locations in North America, being particularly common in, or possibly just well-reported from, California. There are two varieties. Plants from the Flora region belong to P. maritimus Willd. var. maritimus, having stipes about as long as they are wide, glumes that never become strongly indurate at the base, and uninflated, acute hairs on the glume bases. Plants of P. maritimus var. subspathaceus (Req.) Bonnier 8c Layens have stipes that are 3-4 times as long as wide, glumes that become strongly indurate at maturity, and hairs on the glume bases that are strongly inflated and subobtuse.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 24, p. 665. FNA vol. 24, p. 665.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Polypogon Poaceae > subfam. Pooideae > tribe Poeae > Polypogon
Sibling taxa
P. elongatus, P. fugax, P. imberbis, P. interruptus, P. maritimus, P. monspeliensis, P. viridis
P. australis, P. elongatus, P. fugax, P. imberbis, P. interruptus, P. monspeliensis, P. viridis
Name authority Brongn. Willd.
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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