Sporobolus virginicus
Sporobolus teretifolius
marine couch, sand couch, seashore dropseed
wireleaf dropseed
10-65 cm, erect to decumbent.
(20)35-80(100) cm, wiry.
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 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.
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.
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.
(1.8)2-3.2 mm, yellowish-white to purplish-tinged, sometimes grayish.
4-5.6 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.
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.
not known.
not seen.
= 20, 30.
= unknown.
Sporobolus virginicus
Sporobolus teretifolius
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 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.)
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