Pleuropogon refractus

(A. Gray) Benth. ex Vasey
Common names: Nodding semaphoregrass
Endemic
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 24.
Revision as of 21:45, 27 May 2020 by imported>Volume Importer

Plants perennial; not cespitose, rhizomatous. Culms (85)100-150 cm, erect. Sheaths glabrous or pubescent, sometimes scabrid¬ulous; ligules 2-7 mm; blades 10-40 cm long, 5-14 mm wide, apices acute or acuminate and sharply mucronate, flag leaves often reduced to spinose tips. Racemes (10)20-35 cm, with 6-14 spikelets; internodes 2-5.6(8) cm; pedicels 2-3 mm long, reflexed at maturity. Spikelets (20)25-28 mm, pendent, with 7-14 florets, usually all but the terminal floret bisexual. Glumes frequently scabrous, apices obtuse, sometimes erosely notched; lower glumes 3-6 mm; upper glumes 4-7(8.3) mm, 3-veined; rachilla internodes 2-3 mm long, about 0.1 mm thick, bases sometimes weakly differentiated into a glandular swelling; lemmas 8-10 mm, faintly 7(9)-veined, lateral veins occasionally prominent, apices truncate, sometimes toothed, awned, awns (5)9-20 mm; paleal keels each with a 0.2-0.6(1) mm triangular appendage; anthers 3.5-4 mm. Caryopses 4.5-6 mm. 2n =32, 36.

Distribution

Calif., Oreg., Wash., B.C.

Discussion

Pleuropogon refractus grows in wet meadows, riverbanks, and shady places, from sea level to about 1000 m. Its range extends from British Columbia south to California.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.