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crimson bluestem

Photo is of parent taxon

crimson bluestem

Habit Plants cespitose.
Culms

40-120 cm, erect, not rooting or branching at the lower nodes, glabrous.

60-120 cm.

Sheaths

glabrous, rounded;

ligules 0.7-2 mm;

blades 7-20 cm long, 1-6 mm wide, usually with long, papillose-based hairs basally, glabrous elsewhere, sometimes scabrous, without a longitudinal stripe of white, spongy tissue.

Peduncles

4-6 cm;

rames 4-15 cm, not open, usually almost fully exserted at maturity;

internodes 4-6 mm, straight, from mostly glabrous with a tuft of hairs at the base to densely hirsute all over.

Pedicels

3-6 mm long, 0.3-0.5 mm wide at the base, gradually widening to about 0.6-0.8 mm at the top, straight.

straight, ciliate on 1 edge distally.

Sessile

spikelets 5-9 mm;

calluses 0.5-1 mm, hairs to 2 mm;

lower glumes glabrous or densely pubescent;

upper lemmas cleft for (2/3)3/4-7/8 of their length;

awns 15-25 mm.

spikelets: glumes glabrous or scabrous;

awns 15-25 mm.

Pedicellate

spikelets 3-5 mm, usually evidently shorter than the sessile spikelets, sterile or staminate, awned, awns 0.3-6 mm.

spikelets about 3 mm, sterile, awns 3-6 mm.

Ligules

0.7-1.5 mm;

blades usually 1-6 mm wide.

Rames

5-8 cm;

internodes 4-6 mm, glabrous except for a tuft of hairs at the base.

2n

= 40, 50, 60, 70, 80.

Schizachyrium sanguineum

Schizachyrium sanguineum var. sanguineum

Distribution
from FNA
AL; AZ; FL; GA; NM; TX; PR; Virgin Islands
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
FL; PR; Virgin Islands
Discussion

Schizachyrium sanguineum extends from the southern United States to Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

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

Schizachyrium sanguineum var. sanguineum grows in tropical and subtropical regions of America, Africa, and Asia. Within the Flora region, it is known only from the pine woods of Alabama and Florida.

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

Key
1. Lower glumes of the sessile spikelets glabrous or scabrous; pedicels ciliate on 1 edge
var. sanguineum
1. Lower glumes of the sessile spikelets pubescent to hirsute; pedicels ciliate on both edges
var. hirtiflorum
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 674. FNA vol. 25.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Schizachyrium Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Schizachyrium > Schizachyrium sanguineum
Sibling taxa
S. cirratum, S. littorale, S. maritimum, S. niveum, S. rhizomatum, S. scoparium, S. spadiceum, S. tenerum
S. sanguineum var. hirtiflorum
Subordinate taxa
S. sanguineum var. hirtiflorum, S. sanguineum var. sanguineum
Name authority (Retz.) Alston unknown
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