Sporobolus pyramidatus |
Sporobolus teretifolius |
|
---|---|---|
Madagascar dropseed, whorled dropseed |
wireleaf 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)35-80(100) cm, wiry. |
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. |
shiny and indurate basally, glabrous or appressed hairy elsewhere, hairs to 4 mm; ligules 0.2-0.4 mm; blades (10)25-54 cm long, 0.5-1.2 mm wide, terete or subterete at least basally, sometimes channeled for portions of their length, green to yellowish-green, senescing or turning tan in late fall, glabrous on both surfaces or the adaxial surface sparsely hairy basally, margins smooth. |
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. |
10-26 cm long, 1-9 cm wide, open (contracted when immature), not diffuse, narrowly pyramidal to ovate; lower nodes with 1-2(3) branches; primary branches 1-8 cm, ascending or spreading to 40° from the rachis, not capillary, without spikelets on the lower 1/3; secondary branches spreading; pulvini hairy; pedicels 3-18 mm, longer than the spikelets, spreading, with scattered ascending hairs. |
Spikelets | 1.2-1.8 mm, plumbeous or brownish, often secund along the branch. |
4-5.6 mm, purplish-brown. |
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, membranous; lower glumes 2-3.8 mm, 0.5-0.8 times as long as the upper glumes; upper glumes 4-5.6 mm, usually longer than the florets; lemmas 3.4-4.4 mm, ovate, membranous, glabrous, acute; paleas 3.3-4.4 mm, ovate, membranous, glabrous; anthers 1.5-2.6 mm, purplish. |
Fruits | 0.6-1 mm, obovoid, faintly striate, light brownish. |
not seen. |
2n | = 24, 36, 54. |
= unknown. |
Sporobolus pyramidatus |
Sporobolus teretifolius |
|
Distribution |
AR; AZ; CO; FL; IL; KS; LA; MD; MO; NE; NM; NY; OK; PA; TX; UT; HI; PR; Virgin Islands
|
AL; FL; GA; NC; SC |
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 teretifolius is restricted to the southeastern United States, where it grows in wet to moist flatwoods and savannahs, at elevations of 10-150 m. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 119. | FNA vol. 25, p. 135. |
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. | R.M. Harper |
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