Sporobolus asper (Michx.) Kunth
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Authority
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.
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Family
Poaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Stout, tufted, erect, 4–15 dm, the glabrous culms ± solid, mostly 2–5 mm thick; sheaths glabrous, overlapping, rather sparsely long-pilose at the throat and around the collar; blades elongate, flat, becoming involute, 1–4 mm wide, tapering to a scabrous point, pilose near the base at least on the upper side; panicles 2–6, pale or purplish, dense, cylindric, 10–50 cm, to 1 cm thick, partly or mostly enclosed in the inflated sheaths; first glume 1.7–4.7 mm, the second 2.5–6 mm; lemma glabrous, (3.5–)4–6.5 mm, longer than the second glume, blunt, with a boat-shaped tip; palea about as long as the lemma; anthers (1.5–)2–2.5 mm; pericarp gelatinous when wet; 2n=54, 88, 108. Dry or sandy soil, especially on prairies, sometimes on beaches; Me. and Vt. to N.C., Ky., Tenn., and Ala., w. to N.D., Wash., Utah, and N.M. Nearly all of our plants are var. asper, as principally described above. The chiefly southwestern var. drummondi (Trin.) Vasey reaches its nw. limits in Mo. and Io. It has more slender culms, 1–2 mm thick, and a somewhat laxer, looser infl with 16–36 spikelets per square cm of surface, instead of 30–75+ as in var. asper.