Sporobolus flexuosus |
Sporobolus purpurascens |
|
---|---|---|
mesa dropseed |
purple dropseed |
|
Habit | Plants perennial (rarely appearing annual); cespitose, not rhizomatous, bases not hard and knotty. | Plants perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous. |
Culms | 30-100(120) cm tall, 1-3 mm thick near the base, erect to decumbent. |
25-95 cm. |
Sheaths | rounded below, smooth or scabridulous, margins sometimes ciliate distally, apices with tufts of hairs, hairs to 4 mm; ligules 0.5-1 mm; blades (2)5-24 cm long, 2-4(6) mm wide, ascending or strongly divergent, flat to involute, glabrous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially, margins scabridulous. |
rounded below, upper margins sometimes sparsely hispid-ciliate, apices hairy, hairs to 5 mm; ligules 0.2-0.3 mm; blades 8-22 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, flat or involute, glabrous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially, margins scabrous, sometimes sparsely hispid. |
Panicles | 10-30 cm long, 4-12 cm wide, longer than wide, open, subovate to oblong; rachises drooping or nodding; lower nodes with 1-2 branches; primary branches 1-8(12) cm, flexible, diverging at least 70° from the rachis, often strongly reflexed to 130°, tangled with each other and with branches from adjacent panicles; lower branches no longer than those in the middle, usually included in the uppermost sheath; secondary branches widely spreading, without spikelets on the lower 1/8 – 1/2; pulvini pubescent; pedicels 0.3-3 mm, spreading, scabridulous. |
5-30 cm long, 0.4-1.6 cm wide, narrow, contracted; lower nodes with 3 or 5 branches; primary branches 0.3-2 cm, appressed or spreading to 20° from the rachis, spikelet-bearing to near the base; secondary branches appressed; pedicels 0.2-2.5 mm, appressed, scabridulous. |
Spikelets | 1.8-2.5 mm, plumbeous. |
2.8-3.8 mm, purplish-red. |
Glumes | unequal, ovate, membranous; lower glumes 0.9-1.5 mm; upper glumes 1.4-2.5 mm, subequal to the florets; lemmas 1.4-2.5 mm, lanceolate to ovate, membranous, glabrous, acute; paleas 1.4-2.4 mm, ovate, membranous; anthers 0.4-0.7 mm, yellow. |
unequal, linear-lanceolate to lanceolate or ovate, hyaline to membranous; lower glumes 0.9-3 mm; upper glumes 2.9-3.8 mm, subequal to the florets; lemmas 2.9-3.8 mm, ovate, membranous, glabrous, acute; paleas 2.9-3.8 mm, ovate, membranous; anthers 1.5-2 mm, yellowish to purplish. |
Fruits | 0.6-1 mm, ellipsoid, light brownish to reddish-orange. |
1.8-2.3 mm, ellipsoid, somewhat laterally flattened, rugulose, reddish-brown. |
2n | = 36, 38. |
= 60. |
Sporobolus flexuosus |
Sporobolus purpurascens |
|
Distribution |
AZ; CA; CO; KS; MT; NM; NV; TX; UT
|
TX |
Discussion | Sporobolus flexuosus grows on sandy to gravelly slopes, flats, and roadsides in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. It is associated with desert scrub, pinyon-juniper woodlands, and yellow pine forests. Its elevational range is 800-2100 m. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Sporobolus purpurascens grows in oak scrub, prairie grasslands, and sandy sites near railroad crossings and roadsides, at elevations from 2-300 m. It extends from southern Texas through eastern Mexico, the West Indies, and Central America to Brazil. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 131. | FNA vol. 25, p. 133. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Sporobolus | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Sporobolus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Name authority | (Thurb. ex Vasey) Rydb. | (Sw.) Ham. |
Web links |