| Monocotyledon | Literature for Andropogon virginicus
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999. |
| Poaceae -- The Grass Family | Bibliography |
| Andropogon virginicus | |
Common name(s): beardgrass, bluestem, broomsedge, yellow bluestem |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Native to eastern North America, now extending into Central America and sparingly introduced elsewhere.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Hawai`i. |
|
| Habit |
Cespitose perennials growing in dense tufts, yellowish at base; culms erect, 50-100 cm tall, branching freely from the middle and upper nodes, internodes compressed, up to 4 mm in diameter, hollow but partially pithy, glabrous. |
|
| Leaves |
Leaves primarily basal; sheaths closely overlapping, strongly keeled, margins hirsute; ligule a ciliolate membrane, 0.5-0.7 mm long; blades up to 35 cm long, basal blades longest, 2-5 mm wide, hirsute near base and on margins of lower surface, lower surface strongly keeled. |
|
| Flowers |
Inflorescence branches several from each of the middle and upper nodes, slender and wiry, erect or ascending, each bearing several peduncles that arise in the axils of bladeless spathes, peduncles less than 10 mm long, rachis internodes 1.5-3 mm long, pedicels 3.1-5 mm long, rachis internodes and pedicels densely ciliate with silky hairs, these up to 8 mm long; sessile spikelets narrowly ovate, 3.8-4.1 mm long, acute, pedicellate spikelets rudimentary or absent; first glume flattened, the 2 lateral keels scabrous-ciliate near apex, margins inflexed and covering edges of second glume, the second glume 3.5-3.6 mm long, keeled, 1-nerved; first (sterile) lemma hyaline, 3-3.5 mm long, conforming in shape to first glume, upper (fertile) lemma hyaline, narrow, 2.5-3 mm long, ciliate, apex awned, the awn 11-17 mm long, twisted near base; stamen 1. |
|
| Fruit |
Caryopsis brown, ovoid, 1.9-2.4 mm long. |
|
| Chromosomes |
2n = 20 |
|