Sporobolus tenuissimus (Schrank) Kuntze

  • Authority

    Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.

  • Family

    Poaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Sporobolus tenuissimus (Mart. ex Schrank) Kuntze

  • Description

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    Species Description - Delicate, cespitose, short-lived annual herb; culms 40-100 cm tall, glabrous, often shiny. Leaves mostly basal, reduced upward; ligules 0.2-0.3 mm long; blades 5-23 x 0.2-0.4 cm, flat or folded. Panicles 15-30 x 3.5-8 cm, diffuse; branches spreading to reflexed, naked near base; pedicels widely spreading. Spikelets 0.7-1.1 mm long; glumes 0.2-0.5 mm long, ovate, the apex acute to obtuse; lower glumes veinless; upper glumes longer than the lower ones; lemma 0.7-1 mm long, elliptic; anthers 0.2-0.3 mm long. Caryopsis 0.5-0.7 mm long, broadly pyriform.

    Distribution and Ecology - Uncommon. Known on St. John from only a single collection by Raunkiaer (1383). Also on Tortola and St. Croix; now pantropical, but perhaps originally native to the New World.