Schizachyrium sanguineum
Plants cespitose. Culms 40-120 cm, erect, not rooting or branching at the lower nodes, glabrous. Sheaths glabrous, rounded; ligules 0.7-2 mm; blades 7-20 cm long, 1-6 mm wide, usually with long, papillose-based hairs basally, glabrous elsewhere, sometimes scabrous, without a longitudinal stripe of white, spongy tissue. Peduncles 4-6 cm; rames 4-15 cm, not open, usually almost fully exserted at maturity; internodes 4-6 mm, straight, from mostly glabrous with a tuft of hairs at the base to densely hirsute all over. Sessile spikelets 5-9 mm; calluses 0.5-1 mm, hairs to 2 mm; lower glumes glabrous or densely pubescent; upper lemmas cleft for (2/3)3/4-7/8 of their length; awns 15-25 mm. Pedicels 3-6 mm long, 0.3-0.5 mm wide at the base, gradually widening to about 0.6-0.8 mm at the top, straight. Pedicellate spikelets 3-5 mm, usually evidently shorter than the sessile spikelets, sterile or staminate, awned, awns 0.3-6 mm.
Distribution
Puerto Rico, N.Mex., Tex., Virgin Islands, Ala., Ga., Ariz., Fla.
Discussion
Schizachyrium sanguineum extends from the southern United States to Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Selected References
None.
Key
| 1 | Lower glumes of the sessile spikelets glabrous or scabrous; pedicels ciliate on 1 edge | Schizachyrium sanguineum var. sanguineum |
| 1 | Lower glumes of the sessile spikelets pubescent to hirsute; pedicels ciliate on both edges | Schizachyrium sanguineum var. hirtiflorum |