Bouteloua americana (L.) Scribn.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Poaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Perennial herb; culms 25-68 cm tall, decumbent and rooting at the lower nodes. Leaf ligules 0.6-0.8 mm long; blades 3-6 x 0.2-0.4 cm, flat below and inrolled above, the lower margins often with stiff hairs. Inflorescences 7-15 x 2-5 cm, with 3-7 loosely ascending racemelike, triquetrous deciduous branches 2- 4 cm long. Spikelets 6-9 mm long (excluding the awns), 2- flowered, subsessile; pedicels 0.5-1 mm long; glumes 3.5-6 mm long, arcuate, lanceolate, subaristate, subequal; lemma of bisexual floret 4.5-7 mm long (excluding the awns), lanceolate, hyaline with 3 green nerves, awned at apex, the awn to 2 mm long, the callus with a tuft of hairs; lemma of upper floret rudimentary, the nerves prolonged into awns 8-10 mm long; anthers 0.7-0.8 mm long. Caryopsis 3-3.5 mm long.
Distribution and Ecology - Occasional weed of open disturbed areas. Bethany to Rosenberg (B280), Coral Bay (A4030), Lameshur (B633). Also on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and Virgin Gorda; Mexico to Brazil and the West Indies