Hilaria belangeri
Plants perennial; cespitose, usually stoloniferous. Culms 5-35 cm, erect; nodes villous. Sheaths striate, glabrous; ligules 1-3 mm, often lacerate; blades 3-15 cm long, 1-3.5 mm wide, adaxial surfaces sparsely pilose, hairs papillose-based, margins sparsely pilose basally, with similar hairs. Panicles 2-4 cm; fascicles 5-8 mm. Lateral spikelets with 2(3) staminate florets, or 1 sterile floret; glumes unequal, thick, indurate, and conspicuously fused basally, thinner distally, asymmetrically lobed, scabrous, pale to purplish, bases sometimes spotted with a few dark glands, margins wide, hyaline, awns 1 or more, attached below midlength, equaling or exceeding the central spikelets, antrorsely scabrous; lower glumes wider, more deeply lobed, with longer awn(s) than the upper glumes; anthers 3, 3-3.7 mm. Central spikelets as long as or longer than the lateral spikelets, with 1 pistillate floret; glumes terminating in 1 or more antrorsely scabrous awns. 2n = 36, 72, 74.
Distribution
Ariz., N.Mex., Tex.
Discussion
Both varieties of Hilaria belangeri are found on mesas and plains within the regions indicated.
Selected References
None.
Key
| 1 | Plants stoloniferous; blades 3-10 cm long, 1-2 mm wide; ligules about 1-1.5 mm long | Hilaria belangeri var. belangeri |
| 1 | Plants not stoloniferous; blades 3-15 cm long, to 3.5 mm vide; ligules 2.5-3 mm long | Hilaria belangeri var. longifolia |