Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses

GREEN SPRANGLETOP

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Leptochloa dubia (Kunth ) Nees

Pawnee County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 12-46 inches

Family: Poaceae - Grass Family

Flowering Period: August, September,October

Also Called:

Texas crowfoot.

Culms:

Erect or ascending, unbranched above base, wiry, sometimes basally soft-hairy.

Blades:

Flat, occasionally folded, 2 to 14+ inches long, 1/12 to 1/3 inch wide, glabrous, rough, or slightly hairy, especially on upper surface; tip tapering to long point.

Sheaths:

Sometimes longer than internodes, flat, glabrous or lowermost sparsely hairy; collar occasionally soft-hairy.

Ligules:

Membranous, 1/50 to /16 inch long, margin short-fringed.

Inflorescences:

Panicle of 4-15 spike-like branches, open, nodding, 3.2 to 18 inches long; branches well-separated, slender, erect or ascending, 1 to 6 inches long; turning pale at maturity.

Spikelets:

Overlapping on 1 side of rachis; short-stalked; usually 3-8-flowered, strongly flattened, 1/6 to 2/5 inch long, light brown to olive green; glumes nearly equal, lanceolate; tip sharply pointed; lemmas egg-shaped, 1/8 to 1/5 inch long, membranous, glabrous or basally silky-hairy; tip blunt, often minutely notched, awnless.

Habitat:

Banks of streams and rivers, margins of lakes and ponds, rocky slopes; well-drained sandy or rocky soils.

Distribution:

Scattered; somewhat uncommon in Kansas.

Reproduction:

By seeds and tillers.

Forage Value:

Moderately palatable. Provides fair to good grazing and hay, but is seldom abundant.

Uses:

Sparrows and finches eat the seeds. Germinates and grows rapidly, so often used for erosion control.

Comments:

Green sprangletop is a warm season grass that forms tufts. From Geek leptos "slender" and chloe, chloa "grass", alluding to the inflorescence. It is drought and cold tolerant.

Green sprangletop inflorescence