Sporobolus virginicus
Sporobolus floridanus
marine couch, sand couch, seashore dropseed
Florida dropseed
10-65 cm, erect to decumbent.
(40)100-200(250) cm.
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.
shiny and indurate basally, glabrous or appressed hairy elsewhere, hairs to 5 mm;
ligules 0.2-0.7 mm;
blades (10)25-50 cm long, (2)3-10 mm wide, flat to folded, pale bluish-green, yellowing at maturity, glabrous on both surfaces or the adaxial surface sparsely hairy basally, margins scabridulous.
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.
(18)30-50 cm long, 4-15 cm wide, open (contracted when immature), longer than wide, not diffuse, pyramidal to ovate;
lower nodes with 1-2(3) branches;
primary branches 4-15 cm, spreading 10-90° from the rachis, not capillary, without spikelets on the lower 1/3;
secondary branches spreading;
pulvini hairy or glabrous;
pedicels 2-14 mm, longer than the spikelets, spreading, glabrous, sometimes scabridulous.
(1.8)2-3.2 mm, yellowish-white to purplish-tinged, sometimes grayish.
(3.7)4-6 mm, purplish-brown.
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.
linear-lanceolate, membranous;
lower glumes 2.5-5.1 mm, (0.6)0.75-0.9(0.94) times as long as the upper glumes;
upper glumes 3.7-5.7 mm, longer than the florets;
lemmas 3-4 mm, ovate to lanceolate, membranous, glabrous, acute;
paleas 3-4 mm, ovate, membranous, glabrous;
anthers 2-3.1 mm, purplish.
not known.
1.7-2 mm, fusiform, reddish-brown.
= 20, 30.
= unknown.
Sporobolus virginicus
Sporobolus floridanus
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 floridanus grows in wet to mesic pine woodlands, seepage bogs, and treeless swales, in soils semi-permanently to seasonally saturated at the surface, and in places where water may pond for weeks, at elevations of 0-100 m. It is endemic to the southeastern United States.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
LA Plants
MD Biodiversity
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USDA Plants Database
