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Madagascar dropseed, whorled dropseed

ratstail

Habit Plants annual, or short-lived perennials flowering in the first year; cespitose, not rhizomatous. Plants perennial; densely cespitose, not rhizomatous.
Culms

7-35(60) cm, erect or decumbent.

40-100 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.

keeled or rounded, glabrous, apices ciliate;

ligules 0.2-0.4 mm;

blades 10-40 cm long, 2-4 mm wide, flat but soon becoming involute, tapering to a fine point.

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.

14-35 cm long, 0.4-3 cm wide, contracted, interrupted, and rather lax;

primary branches appressed to strongly ascending, spikelet-bearing to the base, lower branches 1.5-5 cm, much longer than the adjacent internodes;

pedicels 0.1-1.2(1.8) mm.

Spikelets

1.2-1.8 mm, plumbeous or brownish, often secund along the branch.

1.4-1.8(2) mm, plumbeous to greenish.

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.

Fruits

0.6-1 mm, obovoid, faintly striate, light brownish.

0.7-1 mm, quadrangular, laterally compressed, reddish-brown, truncate.

Lower

glumes 0.3-0.5 mm, obtuse;

upper glumes 0.4-0.7 mm, usually less than M as long as the florets, faintly 1-veined, truncate, erose to denticulate;

lemmas 1.4-2 mm, elliptic, glabrous, 1-veined, acute;

paleas 1.4-2 mm, elliptic;

anthers 3(2), 0.9-1.1 mm.

2n

= 24, 36, 54.

= 24.

Sporobolus pyramidatus

Sporobolus indicus var. pyramidalis

Distribution
from FNA
AR; AZ; CO; FL; IL; KS; LA; MD; MO; NE; NM; NY; OK; PA; TX; UT; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from USDA
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 jacquemontii, like S. indicus, is native to North America. It is not a common species in the Flora region, being known only from coastal and low elevation sites in Florida. It is sometimes included in S. indicus (Baaijens and Veldkamp 1991) or S. pyramidalis P. Beauv. (Laegaard and Peterson 2001), but is retained here pending more definitive study.

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

Source FNA vol. 25, p. 119. FNA vol. 25, p. 124.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Sporobolus Poaceae > subfam. Chloridoideae > tribe Cynodonteae > Sporobolus
Sibling taxa
S. airoides, S. buckleyi, S. clandestinus, S. coahuilensis, S. compositus, S. contractus, S. creber, S. cryptandrus, S. curtissii, S. diandrus, S. domingensis, S. fimbriatus, S. flexuosus, S. floridanus, S. giganteus, S. heterolepis, S. indicus, S. interruptus, S. jacquemontii, S. junceus, S. nealleyi, S. neglectus, S. pinetorum, S. purpurascens, S. silveanus, S. tenuissimus, S. teretifolius, S. texanus, S. vaginiflorus, S. virginicus, S. wrightii
S. airoides, S. buckleyi, S. clandestinus, S. coahuilensis, S. compositus, S. contractus, S. creber, S. cryptandrus, S. curtissii, S. diandrus, S. domingensis, S. fimbriatus, S. flexuosus, S. floridanus, S. giganteus, S. heterolepis, S. indicus, S. interruptus, S. junceus, S. nealleyi, S. neglectus, S. pinetorum, S. purpurascens, S. pyramidatus, S. silveanus, S. tenuissimus, S. teretifolius, S. texanus, S. vaginiflorus, S. virginicus, S. wrightii
Synonyms S. pulvinatus, S. patens, S. argutus
Name authority (Lam.) Hitchc. Kunth
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