Hilaria belangeri

(Steud.) Nash
Common names: Curly mesquite
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 25. Treatment on page 278.

Plants perennial; cespitose, usually stoloniferous. Culms 5-35 cm, erect; nodes villous. Sheaths striate, glabrous; ligules 1-3 mm, often lacerate; blades 3-15 cm long, 1-3.5 mm wide, adaxial surfaces sparsely pilose, hairs papillose-based, margins sparsely pilose basally, with similar hairs. Panicles 2-4 cm; fascicles 5-8 mm. Lateral spikelets with 2 (3) staminate florets, or 1 sterile floret; glumes unequal, thick, indurate, and conspicuously fused basally, thinner distally, asymmetrically lobed, scabrous, pale to purplish, bases sometimes spotted with a few dark glands, margins wide, hyaline, awns 1 or more, attached below midlength, equaling or exceeding the central spikelets, antrorsely scabrous; lower glumes wider, more deeply lobed, with longer awn (s) than the upper glumes; anthers 3, 3-3.7 mm. Central spikelets as long as or longer than the lateral spikelets, with 1 pistillate floret; glumes terminating in 1 or more antrorsely scabrous awns. 2n = 36, 72, 74.

Discussion

Both varieties of Hilaria belangeri are found on mesas and plains within the regions indicated.

Selected References

None.

Key

1 Plants stoloniferous; blades 3-10 cm long, 1-2 mm wide; ligules about 1-1.5 mm long Hilaria belangeri var. belangeri
1 Plants not stoloniferous; blades 3-15 cm long, to 3.5 mm vide; ligules 2.5-3 mm long Hilaria belangeri var. longifolia

"decumbent" is not a number.

... more about "Hilaria belangeri"
74 +, 72 +  and 36 +
0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br /> (0.37 cm3.7 mm <br />0.0037 m <br />) +
Mary E. Barkworth +
(Steud.) Nash +
1 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
attached +
exceeding the central spikelets +  and equaling +
keeled +  and rounded +
pseudopetiolate +  and branching +
straight +
not fused +
intravaginal +, extravaginal +, branching +  and basal +
swelling +
membranous +
not pseudopetiolate +
3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br /> (15 cm150 mm <br />0.15 m <br />) +
pubescent +  and glabrous +
usually linear +  and lanceolate occasionally ovate +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br />) +
disarticulating +
spikelike +
reduced +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
triangular +  and dome--shaped +
sometimes longer +
membranous +
Curly mesquite +
5 cm50 mm <br />0.05 m <br /> (35 cm350 mm <br />0.35 m <br />) +
not woody +
Ariz. +, N.Mex. +  and Tex. +
not waisted +
capillary +
pistillate +  and staminate +
sometimes longer +
1 +  and 2 +
round +  and compressed +
reduced +
pale +  and purplish +
shorter or longer +
subtending +
unequal +
thinner +  and thick +
papillose-based +
uncinate +
paniculate +  and racemose +
hollow +  and solid +
not absent +
5-veined +, 7-13-veined +  and 1-3-veined +
unawned +  and awned +
membranous +
sometimes longer +
lacerate +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.3 cm3 mm <br />0.003 m <br />) +
membranous +
inconspicuous +
pilose +  and glabrous +
concealed +  and prominent +
2 +  and 1 +
spikelike +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br />) +
dry +  and fleshy +
spikelike +
rhizomatous +  and stoloniferous +
compressed +
1 +  and 3 +
compound +  and simple +
2 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
Gramineae +
Hilaria belangeri +
species +
membranous +
7 (?) +  and 13 (?) +
plant +  and cespitose +
aquatic +  and terrestrial +
dioecious +, monoecious +  and synoecious +