Schizachyrium scoparium |
Schizachyrium sanguineum |
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broom bluestem, little bluestem |
crimson bluestem |
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Habit | Plants cespitose or rhizomatous, green to purplish, sometimes glaucous. | Plants cespitose. | ||||||||||||
Culms | 7-210 cm tall, usually 1-3 mm thick, not rooting or branching at the lower nodes. |
40-120 cm, erect, not rooting or branching at the lower nodes, glabrous. |
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Sheaths | rounded or keeled, glabrous or pubescent, sometimes glaucous; ligules 0.5-2 mm, collars neither elongate nor narrowed; blades 7-105 cm long, 1.5-9 mm wide, without a longitudinal stripe of white, spongy tissue. |
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. |
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Peduncles | 0.8-10 cm; rames 2.5-8 cm, partially to completely exserted, usually somewhat open; internodes 3-7 mm, usually arcuate at maturity, ciliate on at least the distal 1/2 (sometimes throughout), hairs 1.5-6 mm. |
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. |
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Pedicels | 3-7.5 mm long, 0.1-0.2 mm wide at the base, flaring above midlength to 0.3-0.5 mm, straight or curving outwards. |
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. |
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Sessile | spikelets 3-11 mm; calluses 0.5-1(2) mm, hairs 0.3-4 mm; lower glumes glabrous; upper lemmas membranous throughout, cleft to 1/2 their length; awns 2.5-17 mm. |
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. |
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Pedicellate | spikelets 0.7-10 mm, sometimes shorter than the sessile spikelets, sterile or staminate, unawned or awned, awns to 4 mm, when sterile, the lemma usually absent. |
spikelets 3-5 mm, usually evidently shorter than the sessile spikelets, sterile or staminate, awned, awns 0.3-6 mm. |
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2n | = 40. |
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Schizachyrium scoparium |
Schizachyrium sanguineum |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; HI; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; ON; QC; SK
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AL; AZ; FL; GA; NM; TX; PR; Virgin Islands |
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Discussion | Schizachyrium scoparium is a widespread grassland species extending from Canada to Mexico. It is one of the principal grasses in the tallgrass prairies that used to dominate the central plains of North America. It exhibits considerable variation, much of it clinal. The following varieties are recognized because they are morphologically, ecologically, and geographically distinctive. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Schizachyrium sanguineum extends from the southern United States to Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 669. | FNA vol. 25, p. 674. | ||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Schizachyrium | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Schizachyrium | ||||||||||||
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Synonyms | Andropogon scoparius | |||||||||||||
Name authority | (Michx.) Nash | (Retz.) Alston | ||||||||||||
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