Sporobolus virginicus
Sporobolus interruptus
marine couch, sand couch, seashore dropseed
black dropseed
10-65 cm, erect to decumbent.
25-60 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.
dull and fibrous basally, with scattered, contorted hairs to 5 mm, margins glabrous;
ligules 0.2-0.7 mm;
blades (5)8-20 cm long, 1-2.5 mm wide, flat to folded, glabrous or scattered-pilose on both surfaces, 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.
5-20 cm long, (0.6)1-8 cm wide, longer than wide, narrowly pyramidal, open to somewhat contracted, not diffuse, well-exerted from the upper leaf sheath;
lower nodes with 1-2(3) branches;
primary branches 0.6-7 cm, appressed or spreading to 70° from the rachis, not capillary, without spikelets on the lower 1/3;
pedicels 0.8-5.5 mm, appressed to spreading.
(1.8)2-3.2 mm, yellowish-white to purplish-tinged, sometimes grayish.
4.5-6.6 mm, plumbeous.
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.
unequal, lanceolate, membranous;
lower glumes (2)2.5-4.2 mm;
upper glumes 3.8-6.5 mm, at least 2/3 as long as the florets;
lemmas 5-6.5 mm, ovate, membranous, glabrous, acute;
paleas 4.8-6.5 mm, ovate, membranous;
anthers 3-4.2 mm, yellow to purplish.
not known.
about 3 mm long, 1.5-1.7 mm thick, pyriform-globose;
embryo dark brown to blackish;
endosperm reddish-brown.
= 20, 30.
= 30.
Sporobolus virginicus
Sporobolus interruptus
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 interruptus grows on rocky slopes and in dry meadows of open yellow pine and oak-pine forests and pinyon-juniper woodlands, at elevations from 1500—2300 m. It is an Arizonan endemic that is morphologically similar to S. heterolepis, but the two species are separated geographically, the range of the latter lying to the north and east of Arizona. The only reliable morphological difference between them is anther length (3-4.2 mm long in S. interruptus, 1.7-3 mm long in S. heterolepis). Cytologically, S. interruptus appears to be triploid, while 5. heterolepis appears to be an octoploid (2n = 72).
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
LA Plants
MD Biodiversity
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
