Sporobolus virginicus
Sporobolus clandestinus
marine couch, sand couch, seashore dropseed
hidden dropseed, rough dropseed
10-65 cm, erect to decumbent.
40-130(150) cm tall, 1-4 mm thick, frequently glaucous.
overlapping, margins ciliate, apices with tufts of hairs, hairs to 2 mm;
ligules 0.1-0.4 mm;
blades usually conspicuously distichous, 4-16 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, flat to loosely involute, glabrous abaxially, scabridulous adaxially, margins scabridulous.
with sparsely hairy apices, hairs to 3 mm, not conspicuously tufted;
uppermost sheaths 0.5-3 mm wide;
ligules 0.1-0.4 mm;
blades 4-23 cm long, 1.5-4 mm wide, flat or involute, abaxial surface glabrous or pilose, adaxial surface glabrous or scabridulous, margins glabrous.
3-10 cm long, 0.4-1.6 cm wide, contracted, spikelike, dense;
primary branches 0.5-2 cm, appressed, spikelet-bearing to the base;
pedicels 0.2-1.4 mm, appressed.
terminal and axillary, 5-11 cm long, 0.04-0.2(0.3) cm wide, with 10-40 spikelets per cm2, narrow, sometimes spikelike, included in the uppermost sheath;
lower nodes with 1-2(3) branches;
primary branches 0.4-5 cm, appressed, spikelet-bearing to the base;
secondary branches appressed;
pulvini glabrous;
pedicels 0.3-3.5 mm, appressed, glabrous or scabridulous.
(1.8)2-3.2 mm, yellowish-white to purplish-tinged, sometimes grayish.
4-9(10) mm, stramineous to purplish-tinged.
subequal, ovate-oblong, membranous;
lower glumes 1.5-2.4 mm;
upper glumes 1.8-3(3.2) mm;
lemmas 2.1-3 mm, ovate to lanceolate, membranous, glabrous, acute;
paleas 2.1-3 mm, ovate, membranous;
anthers 3, 1-1.7 mm, yellowish.
subequal, lanceolate, membranous to chartaceous, mid-veins usually greenish;
lower glumes 1.5-6.2 mm;
upper glumes (2)2.5-5(6.5) mm, slightly shorter or longer than the lemmas;
lemmas (2.2)3-7(7.4) mm, lanceolate, chartaceous and opaque, minutely appressed pubescent or scabridulous, occasionally 2- or 3-veined, acute to obtuse;
paleas (2.2)3-9(10) mm, ovate to lanceolate, chartaceous;
anthers 2.2-3.2 mm, yellow to orangish.
not known.
(1.5)2.4-3.5 mm, ellipsoid, laterally flattened, often striate, reddish-brown;
pericarps loose, but neither gelatinous nor slipping from the seeds when wet.
= 20, 30.
= unknown.
Sporobolus virginicus
Sporobolus clandestinus
Sporobolus virginicus grows on sandy beaches, sand dunes, and in saline habitats, primarily along the south-eastern coast, occasionally inland. Its range extends through Mexico and Central America to Peru, Chile, and Brazil. No fruits of this species have been found despite examination of several natural populations and over 200 herbarium specimens.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Sporobolus clandestinus grows primarily in sandy soils along the coast and, inland, along roadsides. In the southeastern United States, it is found in dry to mesic longleaf pine-oak-grass communities and cedar glades. Its range lies entirely within the Flora region.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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