Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Mucronate sprangletop

MUCRONATE SPRANGLETOP

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Leptochloa panicea (Retz. ) Ohwi subsp. mucronata (Michx. ) Nowack

[=Leptochloa filiformis (Lam. ) Beauv.]

Cowley County, Kansas

Annual

Height: 7-40 inches

Family: Poaceae - Grass Family

Flowering Period: July, August, September,October

Also Called:

Red sprangletop.

Culms:

Tufted; culms erect or ascending from spreading bases, slender, glabrous, branching.

Blades:

Flat, thin, lax, 1.6 to 10 inches long, 1/8 to 2/5 inch wide, base narrowed, margins rough, sparsely pubescent, at least near base, conspicuous whitish midrib on larger blades.

Sheaths:

Shorter than internodes, back rounded or slightly keeled, glabrous to pubescent with papillose-based hairs.

Ligules:

Membranous, lacerated, .02 to .1 inch.

Inflorescences:

Panicle, often purplish or reddish, 4 to 16 inches, 10-100-branched; branches ascending to erect,, 2 to 7 inches long.

Spikelets:

Green, magenta or maroon, sessile in 2 rows, 2-4-flowered, .06 to .15 inch, somewhat flattened; glumes membraneous, with 1 scabrous nerve, 1/25 to 1/8 inch, tips sharply pointed or tapered to minute awn; lower glume linear to lanceolate; upper glume elliptic-ovate; lemmas oblong-ovate, .04 to .06 inch, tips usually rounded or truncate, sometimes notched, awnless, glabrous or slightly silky along veins.

Habitat:

River and stream banks, lake and pond margins, ditches, moist, open disturbed areas.

Distribution:

Principally east 1/2 of Kansas; also Barton and Ford Counties

Origin:

Native

Mucronate sprangletop