Sporobolus vaginiflorus
Encyclopedia
Sporobolus vaginiflorus is a species of grass
known by the common names poverty grass, poverty dropseed, and sheathed dropseed.
, extreme Southwestern United States
, and the California
Sierra Nevada . It is present elsewhere in western and northwestern North America, as native or an introduced species
.
It grows in many types of habitat
s, including grassland
s, open woodlands, and montane meadows, often in disturbed areas and in sandy and calcareous
soils.
The inflorescence
is a dense, narrow, spikelike panicle
no more than about 5 centimeters long. It may be partially or completely enclosed in the sheath of the uppermost leaf. The spikelets are purple, pinkish, yellowish or grayish in color and may be shiny.
Poaceae
The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...
known by the common names poverty grass, poverty dropseed, and sheathed dropseed.
Distribution
This bunchgrass is native to eastern, central North America, including the Great PlainsGreat Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
, extreme Southwestern United States
Southwestern United States
The Southwestern United States is a region defined in different ways by different sources. Broad definitions include nearly a quarter of the United States, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Utah...
, and the California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
Sierra Nevada . It is present elsewhere in western and northwestern North America, as native or an introduced species
Introduced species
An introduced species — or neozoon, alien, exotic, non-indigenous, or non-native species, or simply an introduction, is a species living outside its indigenous or native distributional range, and has arrived in an ecosystem or plant community by human activity, either deliberate or accidental...
.
It grows in many types of habitat
Habitat
* Habitat , a place where a species lives and grows*Human habitat, a place where humans live, work or play** Space habitat, a space station intended as a permanent settlement...
s, including grassland
Grassland
Grasslands are areas where the vegetation is dominated by grasses and other herbaceous plants . However, sedge and rush families can also be found. Grasslands occur naturally on all continents except Antarctica...
s, open woodlands, and montane meadows, often in disturbed areas and in sandy and calcareous
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
soils.
Description
Sporobolus vaginiflorus is an annual bunchgrass producing one or more stems up to 70 or 80 centimeters long. The wiry stems may be decumbent or erect, and are bent near the bases. They are sheathed by the leaf bases, which are sometimes swollen or inflated and may have lines or tufts of short hairs. The herbage is green to purple in color.The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is a dense, narrow, spikelike panicle
Panicle
A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....
no more than about 5 centimeters long. It may be partially or completely enclosed in the sheath of the uppermost leaf. The spikelets are purple, pinkish, yellowish or grayish in color and may be shiny.