Agrostis elliottiana

Schult.
Common names: Elliott's bent
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 24. Treatment on page 661.
Please click on the illustration for a higher resolution version.
Illustrator: Sandy Long

Copyright: Utah State University

Plants annual. Culms 5-45 cm, erect, sometimes geniculate at the base, with (3) 4-9 nodes. Leaves mostly basal or cauline; basal leaves withered at anthesis; sheaths smooth or scabridulous; ligules (0.7) 1.5-3.5 mm, dorsal surfaces scabrous, apices acute, rounded, or truncate, lacerate; blades 0.5-4 cm long, 0.5-1 mm wide, flat, becoming involute. Panicles 3-20 cm long, (0.5) 2-12 cm wide, widely ovate, ultimately open and diffuse, the whole panicle detaching after maturity, blowing about as a tumbleweed, bases usually exserted, sometimes enclosed by the upper sheaths at maturity, lowest node with 1-6 branches; branches scabridulous, capillary, branching beyond midlength, initially ascending, becoming laxly spreading, spikelets clustered near the tips, lower branches 2-8 cm; pedicels 0.3-7.5 mm; secondary panicles sometimes present in the leaf-axils. Spikelets narrowly elliptic to lanceolate, yellowish purple to greenish purple. Glumes equal, 1.5-2.2 mm, 1-veined, scabrous on the midvein, margins scabrous distally, acute; callus hairs to 0.6 mm, dense; lemmas 1-2 mm, smooth or scabrous to warty, translucent, 5-veined, veins prominent, apices acute, entire or 2-5-toothed, teeth minute, to 0.8 mm, usually awned from just below the apices, sometimes unawned, awns 3-10 mm, flexuous, not geniculate, deciduous; paleas absent or minute; anthers 1, 0.1-0.2 mm, lobes widely separated by the connective, usually retained at the apices of the caryopses. Caryopses 1-1.4 mm; endosperm liquid. 2n = 28.

Distribution

D.C., Fla., Tex., La., Tenn., N.C., S.C., Pa., Va., Calif., Ala., Ark., Ill., Ga., Ind., Ariz., N.Mex., Maine, Md., Kans., Okla., Mass., Ohio, Mo., Miss., Ky.

Discussion

Agrostis elliottiana grows in fields and scrublands and along roadsides. It has a disjunct distribution, occurring in western North America in northern California and southern Arizona and New Mexico; in eastern North America from Kansas and Texas east to Pennsylvania and northern Florida; and in Yucatan, Mexico. Although it has been introduced elsewhere, notably in Maine, it is not known to have become established at those locations.

Agrostis elliottiana resembles A. scabra (p. 646) and A. hyemalis (p. 647) in its diffuse panicle, but differs in its flexible awn and single anther. Small Californian plants have sometimes been called A. exigua Thurb.; they are otherwise identical to A. elliottiana.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"decumbent" is not a number.

... more about "Agrostis elliottiana"
membranous +  and scarious +
not penicillate +
0.01 cm0.1 mm <br />1.0e-4 m <br /> (0.02 cm0.2 mm <br />2.0e-4 m <br />) +
awned +, truncate +  and entire +
2-5-toothed +, entire +, acute +, lacerate +, truncate +  and rounded +
M.J. Harvey +
Schult. +
1 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
flexuous +
basal +  and terminal +
not geniculate +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br />) +
rounded +  and keeled +
pseudopetiolate +  and branching +
swelling +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (4 cm40 mm <br />0.04 m <br />) +
not evident +
scabridulous +
cross +, linear +  and narrowly lanceolate +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
spreading;ascending +
scabridulous +
capillary +
1 cm10 mm <br />0.01 m <br /> (?) +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.06 cm0.6 mm <br />6.0e-4 m <br />) +
hairy +  and glabrous +
Elliott's bent +
not branching +
geniculate +
5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (45 cm450 mm <br />0.45 m <br />) +
not woody +
D.C. +, Fla. +, Tex. +, La. +, Tenn. +, N.C. +, S.C. +, Pa. +, Va. +, Calif. +, Ala. +, Ark. +, Ill. +, Ga. +, Ind. +, Ariz. +, N.Mex. +, Maine +, Md. +, Kans. +, Okla. +, Mass. +, Ohio +, Mo. +, Miss. +  and Ky. +
1/4 +  and 1/3 +
capillary +
pistillate +  and staminate +
sometimes longer +
sterile +  and bisexual +
compressed +
reduced +
(1)1.3-2(4) times longer than +
subtending +
unequal +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.22 cm2.2 mm <br />0.0022 m <br />) +
uncinate +
diffuse +  and dense +
cauline +  and basal +
scabrous to warty +  and smooth +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
warty-tuberculate +  and scabridulous +
lanceolate +  and ovate +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
membranous +
0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br /> (0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br />) +
membranous +
inconspicuous +
lanceolate +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br />) +
0.01 cm0.1 mm <br />1.0e-4 m <br /> (0.03 cm0.3 mm <br />3.0e-4 m <br />) +
concealed +  and prominent +
4 +  and 9 +
2 +  and 1 +
well-developed +
2-keeled +
3cm +  and 20cm +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (12 cm120 mm <br />0.12 m <br />) +
0.03 cm0.3 mm <br />3.0e-4 m <br /> (0.75 cm7.5 mm <br />0.0075 m <br />) +
dry +  and fleshy +
not prolonged +
hairy +  and glabrous +
scabridulous +  and smooth +
yellowish purple +  and greenish purple +
1 +  and 60 +
narrowly elliptic +  and lanceolate +
0.12 cm1.2 mm <br />0.0012 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
1 +  and 3 +
simple +  and compound +
2 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
Gramineae +
Agrostis elliottiana +
Agrostis +
species +
membranous +
2 (?) +  and 5 (?) +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br />) +
not convergent +
scabrous +  and scabridulous +
stoloniferous +  and rhizomatous +
aquatic +  and terrestrial +