| Monocotyledon | Literature for Sporobolus virginicus
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999; Lorence & Wagner, 2019. |
| Poaceae -- The Grass Family | Bibliography |
| Sporobolus virginicus | |
Common name(s): dropseed, `aki, `aki`aki, beach dropseed, mahiki, mahikihiki, manienie, manienie `aki`aki, manienie mahikihiki, manienie maoli, seashore rushgrass |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Native to sandy, usually coastal sites in tropical and subtropical areas worldwide.In the Hawaiian Islands, indigenous to Midway, Laysan, Ni`ihau, Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Kaho`olawe, Hawai`i. |
|
| Habit |
Vigorous perennial, spreading by
extensive stiff, scaly rhizomes; culms
erect, 0.5‒5(‒9) dm long, freely branching, hollow, glabrous. |
|
| Leaves |
Leaves distichous; sheath overlapping, glabrous except for the pilose apex and distal margin, hairs conspicuous, to 3 mm long; ligule membranous, 0.2‒0.4 mm long, minutely, densely ciliate; blade harsh, usually involute, 3‒14 cm long, 2‒5 mm wide, adaxial surface ridged, sometimes with scattered papillose hairs, apex acute, pungent. |
|
| Flowers |
Inflorescences a terminal panicle, dense, cylindrical, 2‒9 cm long, 0.3‒1 cm in diameter, branches short, erect, densely flowered to base. Spikelets grayish or yellowish brown, glossy, appressed to the branches, laterally compressed, 2‒3.3 mm; first glume lanceolate, 1.7‒2.4 mm, 1-nerved, apex acuminate, second glume ovate, 2‒3.1 mm, 1-veined, apex acuminate; lemma ovate, 1.9‒2.5 mm, 1-veined; palea as long as lemma, often splitting between the 2 vein; stamens 2. |
|
| Fruit |
Caryopses obovoid, 0.9‒1.2 mm long, ovary wall gelatinizing, but thin. |
|
| Chromosomes |
2n = 18, 20, 30, 40. |
|
| Contributor |
Warren Wagner |