Cynosurus cristatus
Plants perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous. Culms (5)15-75 (90) cm. Sheaths smooth, glabrous; ligules 0.5-2.5 mm, truncate, erose or ciliolate; blades 3-15(19) cm long, 0.5-2(4.3) mm wide, glabrous or pubescent. Panicles (1) 3.5-14 cm long, 0.4-1 cm wide, linear, spikelike, unilateral. Spikelets 3-7 mm, subsessile or shortly pedicellate, pedicels to 1 mm. Sterile spikelets strongly laterally compressed, with 6-11(18) florets; glumes and lemmas similar, linear-lanceolate, keeled, keels ciliate, apices acuminate to awned, awns to 1 mm. Fertile spikelets with 2-5 florets, glumes and lemmas dissimilar; glumes 2.8-5.1 mm long, 0.6-0.9 mm wide, 1-veined, laterally compressed, hyaline, keeled, acute; rachilla internodes 0.4-0.6 mm; lemmas 3-4.5 mm long, 0.6-1.1 mm wide, dorsally compressed, membranous to subcoriaceous, not keeled, margins hyaline, ciliolate, apices obtuse to acute, unawned or awned, awns to 3 mm; anthers 1.8-3 mm. 2n = 14.
Distribution
Mont., Oreg., Conn., N.J., N.Y., Wash., Del., Wis., W.Va., N.H., N.C., Tenn., Pa., R.I., B.C., Nfld. and Labr. (Labr.), N.S., Ont., Que., Va., Colo., Calif., Vt., Idaho, Maine, Md., Mass., Ohio, Mich.
Discussion
Cynosurus cristatus is a European native that is now established in North America. It grows in a wide range of soils in dry or damp habitats. In Europe it is used for fodder and pasture, especially for sheep, but in North America it is regarded as a weedy species. It is self-incompatible.
Selected References
None.