Bothriochloa pertusa

(L.) A. Camus
Common names: Pitted bluestem
Introduced
Synonyms: Andropogon pertusus
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 25. Treatment on page 646.
Revision as of 21:03, 5 November 2020 by imported>Volume Importer

Plants cespitose or stoloniferous. Culms to 100 cm, often decumbent or stoloniferous, freely branching; nodes bearded. Leaves mostly basal, green, sometimes glaucous; sheaths glabrous, keeled; ligules 0.7-1.5 mm; blades 3-15 cm long, 3-4 mm wide, flat, margins and ligule regions hairy. Panicles 3-5 cm, fan-shaped, often purplish; rachises 0.2-2 cm, with 3-8 branches; branches 3-4.5 cm, longer than the rachises, usually with 1 rame; rame internodes with villous margins, with 1-3 mm hairs. Sessile spikelets 3-4 mm, lanceolate; callus hairs about 1 mm; lower glumes sparsely hirtellous, with a prominent dorsal pit near the middle; awns 10-17 mm; anthers 1-1.8 mm, yellow. Pedicellate spikelets the same size as the sessile spikelets, sterile, pitted or not, occasionally with 2 pits. 2n = 40, 60.

Distribution

Puerto Rico, Md., Tex., La., Virgin Islands, Pacific Islands (Hawaii), Miss., Fla.

Discussion

Bothriochloa pertusa is native to the Eastern Hemisphere, and was introduced to the southern United States as a warm-season pasture grass. It now grows in disturbed, moist, grassy places and pastures in the region, at elevations of 2-200 m. It has not persisted at all locations shown on the map.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.