Sclerochloa

Plants annual. Culms 2-30 cm. Sheaths open to closed; auricles absent; ligules membranous; blades flat or folded. Inflorescences terminal, usually racemes, sometimes reduced panicles, 1-sided, usually exceeded by the leaves. Spikelets laterally compressed, subsessile to pedicellate; pedicels 0.5-1 mm long, 0.5-0.8 mm thick, stout, with 2-7 florets; rachillas glabrous, lowest internodes thicker than those above; disarticulation tardy, not strongly localized. Glumes unequal, shorter than the lowest lemmas, glabrous, with wide hyaline margins, apices obtuse to emarginate, unawned; lower glumes (1)3-5-veined; upper glumes (3)5-9-veined; calluses blunt, glabrous; lemmas membranous, with hyaline margins, indurate at maturity, (5)7-9-veined, veins prominent, apices rounded to emarginate, entire, unawned; paleas shorter than to equaling the lemmas, dorsally compressed; lodicules 2, free, glabrous, entire to lacerate; anthers 3. Caryopses shorter than the lemmas, concealed at maturity, beaked from the persistent style base, falling free; hila round, x = 7.

Distribution

Wash., Ill., Ind., Ky., Mich., N.Y., Ohio, Pa., Wis., W.Va., N.Mex., Tex., La., Tenn., B.C., Ont., Va., Colo., Ark., Ga., Idaho, Kans., Mo., Nebr., Okla., Oreg., Md., Calif., Iowa, Ariz., Mont., Utah, Miss.

Discussion

Sclerochloa is a genus of two species, both of which are native to southern Europe and western Asia. The species found in the Flora region, S. dura, is now a cosmopolitan weed.

Selected References

Brandenburg, D.M., J.R. Estes, and J.W. Thieret. 1991. Hard grass (Sclerochloa dura, Poaceae) in the United States. Sida 14:369-376

Brandenburg, D.M. and J.W. Thieret. 1996. Sclerochloa dura (Poaceae) in Kentucky. Trans. Kentucky Acad. Sci. 57:47-48

Cusick, A.W., R.K. Rabeler, and M.J. Oldham. 2002. Hard or fairgrounds grass (Sclerochloa dura, Poaceae) in the Great Lakes region. Michigan Bot. 41:125-135.

Lower Taxa

Sclerochloa dura