SHOWY CHLORIS
File Size: 119 KB
 
Chloris virgata  Sw.
Comanche County, Kansas
Annual
Height: 16-36 inches
Family: Poaceae - Grass Family
Flowering Period:   July, August
Also Called: Feather finger-grass.
Culms: Ascending to spreading from decumbent base, solid above, often hollow below, smooth, somewhat flattened, branching at base and lower nodes; sometimes rooting at nodes.
Blades: Flat, to 9 inches long, 1/8 to 1/4 inch wide, surfaces and margins rough, sparsely long-hairy; tip tapering to sharp point.
Sheaths: Shorter than internodes, slightly keeled, smooth, few hairs often at throat.
Ligules: Short fringed membrane.
Inflorescences: Panicles, terminal; branches 6-20, crowded, finger-like, erect or ascending, 2 to 3.5 inches long, pale green or tan, silky.
Spikelets: 2-flowered, flattened, crowded on 1 side of slender branches; lower floret fertile; upper floret underdeveloped; glumes unequal, 1-nerved, tapering to points; lemma of fertile floret swollen, hairy at base, margins conspicuously fringed, awn rough, 1/8 to 2/5 inch long; underdeveloped floret with awn 1/10 to 1/3 inch long.
Habitat: Pastures, disturbed prairies, roadsides, waste ground; sandy soil.
Distribution: Principally south 1/2 of Kansas.
Comments: Widespread weed.

Showy chloris inflorescence post-flowering
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Comanche County, Kansas
Showy chloris habit
340 KB
Grant County, Kansas (Marion McGlohon photo)
Showy chloris
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Grant County, Kansas (Marion McGlohon photo)