Jepson Interchange (more information)
Print edition is available from the University of California Press
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This page is based on the 1993 Jepson Manual.
Please see the Jepson eFlora for up-to-date information about California vascular plants. |
| Jepson Flora Project: Jepson Interchange |
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TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL |
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Jepson Interchange (more information) |
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©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
Print edition is available from the University of California Press |
| The second edition of The Jepson Manual (2012) is available from the University of California Press | |
| See also the Jepson eFlora, which parallels the Second Edition |
Annual to bamboo-like; roots generally fibrous
Stem generally round, hollow; nodes swollen, solid
Leaves alternate, 2-ranked, generally linear; sheath generally open; ligule membranous or hairy, at blade base
Inflorescence various (of generally many spikelets)
Spikelet: glumes generally 2; florets (lemma, palea, flower) 1–many; lemma generally membranous, sometimes glume-like; palea generally ± transparent, ± enclosed by lemma
Flower generally bisexual, minute; stamens generally 3; stigmas generally 2, generally plumose
Fruit: achene-like grain
Genera in family: 650–900 genera; ± 10,000 species: worldwide; greatest economic importance of any family (wheat, rice, maize, millet, sorghum, sugar cane, forage crops, ornamental, weeds; thatching, weaving, building materials).[Hitchcock 1951 Manual grasses US, USDA Misc Publ 200; Clayton & Renvoise 1986 Kew Bull Add Series 13] See Glossary p. 26 for illustrations of general family characteristics. Generally wind-pollinated.
Species in genus: 1 sp
Etymology: (Greek: finger, from crowded spikelets at inflorescence tips)
Reference: [Stebbins & Zohary 1959 Univ Calif Publ Bot 31:1–40]
| Introduced |
Perennial from short rhizomes
Stems (1)2–5, 3–11 dm
Leaves basal and cauline; sheath closed, keeled; appendages 0; ligules 4–9 mm, ± translucent, fringed to toothed at obtuse tip, glabrous to minutely soft-hairy; blades 3–6 mm wide, slightly scabrous
Inflorescence 1–1.5 dm, panicle-like; branches spike-like, stiffly erect to spreading
Spikelets crowded, generally on 1 side of branch tips, short-stalked to subsessile, laterally compressed; florets 2–4, generally bisexual (upper sometimes staminate), breaking above glumes and between florets; glumes and lemmas short-awned at tip, minutely ciliate to short-hairy on back; glumes 3–6 mm, subequal; lemmas 4–7 mm, margin translucent, 5-veined; palea slightly < lemma, 2-forked at tip
Chromosomes: 2n=14,21,27–31,42
Ecology: Disturbed, often moist sites
Elevation: < 2500 m.
Bioregional distribution: California Floristic Province, Great Basin Floristic Province
Distribution outside California: to Canada, US; native to Eurasia
Flowering time: May–Aug
Cult for forage, hay.
| YOU CAN HELP US make sure that our distributional information is correct and current. If you know that a plant occurs in a wild, reproducing state in a Jepson bioregion NOT highlighted on the map, please contact us with that information. Please realize that we cannot incorporate range extensions without access to a voucher specimen, which should (ultimately) be deposited in an herbarium. You can send the pressed, dried collection (with complete locality information indicated) to us (e-mail us for details) or refer us to an accessioned herbarium specimen. Non-occurrence of a plant in an indicated area is difficult to document, but we will especially value your input on those types of possible errors (see automatic conversion of distribution data to maps). |
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