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sugarcane plumegrass

compressed plumegrass

Habit Plants rhizomatous. Plants cespitose, not or shortly rhizomatous.
Culms

1-2.5 m;

nodes sericeous, hairs to 5 mm.

1-2.5 m;

nodes with 1-3 mm hairs.

Sheaths

glabrate or glabrous;

auricles absent;

ligules 2-6 mm;

blades usually 35-70 cm long, 8-30 mm wide, adaxial surfaces glabrous or pilose.

glabrous;

auricles 0.3-3 mm;

ligules 1-2 mm;

blades 15-40 cm long, 7-12 mm wide.

Peduncles

40-80 cm, pilose;

panicles 6-15 cm wide, oblong or lanceolate;

rachises 15-30 cm, pilose;

lowest nodes densely pilose;

primary branches 2-13 cm, ascending or appressed to the rachises;

rame internodes 2-5.5 mm, pilose.

35-45 cm, glabrous;

panicles 3-7 cm wide, linear to oblong;

rachises 13-35 cm, glabrous or sparsely pilose;

primary branches 5-12 cm, appressed;

rame internodes 3-6 mm, with hairs.

Pedicels

2.5-5 mm, pilose.

3-5 mm, sparsely and shortly pilose.

Sessile

spikelets 4.2-6 mm long, 0.8-1.1 mm wide, straw-colored.

spikelets 6-8 mm long, 0.9-1.2 mm wide, brown.

Callus

hairs (7)15-20(25) mm, longer than the spikelets, straw-colored or brown;

glumes usually glabrous;

lower glumes smooth, indistinctly 5-veined;

lower lemmas 3-5 mm, without veins;

upper lemmas 2.5-3.5 mm, 1-veined, entire;

awns 12-26 mm, straight or curved, terete basally;

lodicule veins sometimes extending into hairlike projections;

anthers 2.

hairs 3-5 mm, from shorter than to equaling the spikelets, white or straw-colored;

lower glumes smooth or scabrous, 5-veined;

lower lemmas 5.8-7.5 mm, usually 3-veined;

upper lemmas 4-5.5 mm, 0.7-0.8 times as long as the lower lemmas, 3-veined, entire;

awns 16-26 mm, terete and straight to curving basally;

lodicule veins extending into hairlike projections to 0.6 mm long;

anthers 2.

Pedicellate

spikelets similar to the sessile spikelets, except frequently pilose.

spikelets similar to the sessile spikelets.

2n

= 30, 60, 90.

= 60.

Saccharum giganteum

Saccharum coarctatum

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; DC; DE; FL; GA; IL; KY; LA; MD; MO; MS; NC; NJ; NY; OK; PA; SC; TN; TX; VA
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from FNA
AL; DE; FL; GA; MD; NC; SC; TX; VA
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Saccharum giganteum grows in wet soils of bogs, swales, and swamps. Its range extends from the eastern and southeastern United States to Central America. It is a polymorphic, primarily chasmogamous species that intergrades morphologically with the primarily cleistogamous S. trinii (Hack.) Renvoize in Central America. The combination of long callus hairs and straight awns distinguishes it from all other species of Saccharum in the Flora region.

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

Saccharum coarctatum is common in wet, peaty or sandy soils of swales, pond margins, and meadows of the coastal plain of the southeastern United States. It is unusual in having lodicule veins that extend into hairlike projections up to 0.6 mm long.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 611. FNA vol. 25, p. 612.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Saccharum Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Saccharum
Sibling taxa
S. alopecuroides, S. baldwinii, S. bengalense, S. brevibarbe, S. coarctatum, S. officinarum, S. ravennae, S. spontaneum
S. alopecuroides, S. baldwinii, S. bengalense, S. brevibarbe, S. giganteum, S. officinarum, S. ravennae, S. spontaneum
Synonyms Erianthus giganteus Erianthus coarctatus
Name authority (Walter) Pers. (Fernald) R.D. Webster
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