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slender bluestem, slender little bluestem

gulf bluestem

Habit Plants cespitose. Plants often appearing rhizomatous.
Culms

60-100 cm, sometimes reclining or decumbent, glabrous.

35-80 cm, solitary, decumbent, branching at the lower nodes, often rooting from nodes in contact with the soil.

Leaves

glaucous throughout;

sheaths shorter than the internodes, keeled;

collars constricted, elongate;

ligules 0.5-1 mm;

blades 11-142 cm long, 3.5-5.5 mm wide, folded, without a longitudinal stripe of white, spongy tissue.

Peduncles

1-6 cm; subtending leaf sheaths 3.2-6.6 cm long, 3-6.5 mm wide;

rames 2.5-6.5 cm, flexuous, usually partially exserted, appearing somewhat open;

internodes 4-5.5 mm, straight, pubescent for 1/2 - 3/4 of their length, hairs 2.5-6 mm.

Pedicels

3-5 mm, glabrous.

5-7 mm, as conspicuously villous as the rachis.

Collars

not elongate, about as wide as the blade;

ligules to 0.5 mm, ciliolate;

blades 5-15 cm long, 0.5-2 mm wide, involute or flat, glabrous or sparsely hairy basally, with a wide central zone of bulliform cells evident on the adaxial surfaces as a longitudinal stripe of white, spongy tissue.

Rames

2-6 cm, eventually long-exserted;

internodes 2-4 mm, straight, glabrous.

Sessile

spikelets 3.5-4.5 mm;

calluses 0.5-1 mm, hairs to 1.2 mm;

lower glumes glabrous;

upper lemmas acute, entire;

awns 6-10 mm.

spikelets 9-11 mm;

calluses 0.3-0.5 mm;

hairs to 1 mm;

awns 8-13 mm.

Pedicellate

spikelets usually as long as or slightly longer than the sessile spikelets, sterile, unawned.

spikelets 4.5-8.5 mm, staminate, unawned or awned, awns to 3.5 mm.

2n

= 60.

= 40.

Schizachyrium tenerum

Schizachyrium maritimum

Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; OK; TX; PR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; LA; MS
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Schizachyrium tenerum is an uncommon species in the southeastern United States, where it grows on sandy soils in pine forest openings and coastal prairies. Its range extends through Central America into South America.

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

Schizachyrium maritimum is endemic to the south-eastern United States, growing in sandy areas, usually at the ocean waterline but also along roads in low, dune areas, from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle.

The plants often appear rhizomatous because the lower, decumbent portions of the culms are frequently covered by sand. It is an effective sand binder and can withstand frequent inundation by sea water, the constricted collar permitting the blades to sway freely when subjected to wind or wave action.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 672. FNA vol. 25, p. 672.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Schizachyrium Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Andropogoneae > Schizachyrium
Sibling taxa
S. cirratum, S. littorale, S. maritimum, S. niveum, S. rhizomatum, S. sanguineum, S. scoparium, S. spadiceum
S. cirratum, S. littorale, S. niveum, S. rhizomatum, S. sanguineum, S. scoparium, S. spadiceum, S. tenerum
Synonyms Andropogon tener Andropogon maritimus
Name authority Nees (Chapm.) Nash
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