Chloris gayana

Kunth
Common names: Rhodesgrass
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 25. Treatment on page 210.

Plants perennial; usually stoloniferous. Culms to 300 cm, erect. Sheaths glabrous or scabrous, often ciliate apically; ligules ciliate; blades to 30 cm long, 15 mm wide, scabrous. Panicles digitate, with 9-30 evidently distinct branches; branches 8-20 cm, usually somewhat divaricate, spikelet-bearing to the base, averaging 10 spikelets per cm. Spikelets strongly imbricate, tawny, with 1 bisexual and (1) 2-4 usually staminate, sometimes sterile florets. Lower glumes 1.4-2.8 mm; upper glumes 2.2-3.5 mm; lowest lemmas 2.5-4.2 mm long, 0.7-1 mm wide, ovate to obovate or elliptic, somewhat gibbous, sides not grooved, pubescence variable, sides usually glabrous, sometimes scabrous or appressed-pubescent, margins usually glabrous or appressed-pubescent on the lower portions, sometimes throughout their length, sometimes with strongly divergent hairs distally, occasionally with strongly divergent hairs their entire length, divergent hairs, when present, 1+ mm, lemma apices inconspicuously bilobed, awned, awns 1.5-6.5 mm; second florets staminate or sterile, 2.2-3.2 mm long, 0.3-1 mm wide, similar to the first floret but more cylindrical, not widened distally, inflated, if at all, only near the apices, inconspicuously bilobed, awned, awns 0.8-3.2 mm; distal florets progressively smaller, longer than the subtending rachilla segment, awn-tipped or unawned. Caryopses 1-1.5 mm long, about 0.5 mm wide. 2n = 20, 30, 40.

Distribution

Maine, Va., Mass., Tex., La., Virgin Islands, Calif., N.C., Pacific Islands (Hawaii), Ill., Miss., Ariz., Fla.

Discussion

Chloris gayana grows in warm-temperate to tropical regions throughout the world, including the southern United States. It is cultivated as a meadow grass in irrigated regions of the southwest.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"decumbent" is not a number.

... more about "Chloris gayana"
40 +, 30 +  and 20 +
Mary E. Barkworth +
1 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
multiple +, , +  and single +
0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br /> (0.32 cm3.2 mm <br />0.0032 m <br />) +
keeled +  and rounded +
pseudopetiolate +  and branching +
not fused +
intravaginal +, extravaginal +, branching +  and basal +
swelling +
membranous +
not pseudopetiolate +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (30 cm300 mm <br />0.3 m <br />) +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
usually linear +  and lanceolate occasionally ovate +
15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br /> (?) +
spikelike +
8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br /> (20 cm200 mm <br />0.2 m <br />) +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br />) +
obovoid +, elliptic +  and ovoid +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (?) +
triangular +  and dome--shaped +
sometimes longer +
membranous +
Rhodesgrass +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (300 cm3,000 mm <br />3 m <br />) +
not woody +
unawned +  and awn-tipped +
Maine +, Va. +, Mass. +, Tex. +, La. +, Virgin Islands +, Calif. +, N.C. +, Pacific Islands (Hawaii) +, Ill. +, Miss. +, Ariz. +  and Fla. +
not waisted +
capillary +
0.22 cm2.2 mm <br />0.0022 m <br /> (0.32 cm3.2 mm <br />0.0032 m <br />) +
sometimes longer +
2 +  and 4 +
sterile +  and bisexual +
cylindrical +  and inflated +
reduced +
widened +, 0.3mm +  and 1mm +
shorter or longer +
subtending +
acute +  and acuminate +
unequal +
uncinate +
paniculate +  and racemose +
hollow +  and solid +
not absent +
obtuse +  and truncate +
5-veined +, 7-13-veined +  and 1-3-veined +
sometimes longer +
ciliate +  and lacerate +
membranous +
inconspicuous +
0.14 cm1.4 mm <br />0.0014 m <br /> (0.28 cm2.8 mm <br />0.0028 m <br />) +
0.25 cm2.5 mm <br />0.0025 m <br /> (0.42 cm4.2 mm <br />0.0042 m <br />) +
gibbous +, ovate +  and obovate or elliptic +
0.07 cm0.7 mm <br />7.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
appressed-pubescent +  and glabrous +
mucronate +
concealed +  and prominent +
2 +  and 1 +
dry +  and fleshy +
spikelike +
scabrous +  and glabrous +
not grooved +
appressed-pubescent +, scabrous +, glabrous +  and variable +
sessile +  and pedicellate +
compressed +
1 +  and 3 +
compound +  and simple +
2 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
Gramineae +
Chloris gayana +
species +
membranous +
0.22 cm2.2 mm <br />0.0022 m <br /> (0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br />) +
7 (?) +  and 13 (?) +
aquatic +  and terrestrial +
dioecious +, monoecious +  and synoecious +
2;several +