Sporobolus pyramidatus |
Sporobolus domingensis |
|
---|---|---|
Madagascar dropseed, whorled dropseed |
coral dropseed |
|
Habit | Plants annual, or short-lived perennials flowering in the first year; cespitose, not rhizomatous. | Plants perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous. |
Culms | 7-35(60) cm, erect or decumbent. |
20-100 cm. |
Sheaths | rounded below, margins and apices hairy, hairs to 3 mm; ligules 0.3-1 mm; blades 2-12(20) cm long, 2-6 mm wide, flat, abaxial surface glabrous, adaxial surface scabridulous, sometimes sparsely hispid, margins ciliate-pectinate. |
rounded below, distal margins and apices hairy, hairs to 3 mm; ligules 0.2-1.2 mm; blades 5-20 cm long, 3-8 mm wide, flat to loosely involute, glabrous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially, margins scabridulous. |
Panicles | 4-15(18) cm long, 0.3-6 cm wide, open (contracted when immature), pyramidal; lower nodes with 7-12(15) branches; primary branches 0.5-4.5 cm, spreading 30-90° from the rachis, with elongated glands, without spikelets on the lower 1/3 – 1/2, secondary branches appressed; pedicels 0.1-0.5 mm, appressed. |
10-25(35) cm long, 1-5 cm wide, usually some-what contracted, sometimes spikelike, often interrupted below; primary branches 0.7-7 cm, appressed or spreading to 30° from the rachis, spikelet-bearing to the base; secondary branches appressed; pedicels 0.2-1.4 mm, appressed. |
Spikelets | 1.2-1.8 mm, plumbeous or brownish, often secund along the branch. |
1.6-2 mm, yellowish-green to grayish. |
Glumes | unequal, ovate to obovate, membranous; lower glumes 0.3-0.7 mm, without midveins; upper glumes 1.2-1.8 mm, at least 2/3 as long as the florets, often longer; lemmas 1.2-1.7 mm, ovate to elliptic, membranous, glabrous, acute; paleas 1.1-1.6 mm, ovate to elliptic, membranous, glabrous; anthers 0.2-0.4 mm, yellowish or purplish. |
unequal, linear-lanceolate to ovate, membranous; lower glumes 0.5-1.1 mm, usually without veins; upper glumes 1.1-2 mm, subequal to the lemmas; lemmas 1.1-2 mm, ovate, membranous, glabrous (occasionally minutely pubescent), acute; paleas 1-2 mm, ovate, membranous; anthers 2 or 3, 0.5-1 mm, yellowish or purplish. |
Fruits | 0.6-1 mm, obovoid, faintly striate, light brownish. |
0.7-1.1 mm, ellipsoid, laterally flattened, light brownish. |
2n | = 24, 36, 54. |
= unknown. |
Sporobolus pyramidatus |
Sporobolus domingensis |
|
Distribution |
AR; AZ; CO; FL; IL; KS; LA; MD; MO; NE; NM; NY; OK; PA; TX; UT; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
|
AZ; FL; GA; TX; PR |
Discussion | Sporobolus pyramidatus is native to the Americas, extending from the southern United States to Argentina. It grows in disturbed soils, roadsides, railways, coastal sands, and alluvial slopes in many plant communities, at elevations from 0-1500 m. Morphologically, it is very similar to the Eastern Hemisphere S. coromandelianus (Retz.) Kunth, suggesting that they are closely related. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Sporobolus domingensis grows in sandy, rocky, or alkaline soils, often in disturbed sites adjacent to the coast and below 20 m. Its range extends to the Antilles and the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 119. | FNA vol. 25, p. 126. |
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Sporobolus | Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Sporobolus |
Sibling taxa | ||
Synonyms | S. pulvinatus, S. patens, S. argutus | |
Name authority | (Lam.) Hitchc. | (Trin.) Kunth |
Web links |