Difference between revisions of "Erianthus alopecuroides"

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This species generally flowers in October.<ref name= "Weakley"/> It has been observed to flower and fruit from September through November.<ref name=fsu/>
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This species generally flowers in October.<ref name= "Weakley"/> It has been observed to flower and fruit from September through November.<ref name=fsu/><ref>Nelson, G. PanFlora: Plant data for the eastern United States with emphasis on the Southeastern Coastal Plains, Florida, and the Florida Panhandle. www.gilnelson.com/PanFlora/ Accessed: 8 MAY 2019</ref>
 
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Revision as of 14:39, 8 May 2019

Erianthus alopecuroides
Eria alop.jpg
Saccharum alopecuroidum (synonym shown); Photo by James H. Miller & Ted Bodner, Southern Weed Science Society, Bugwood.org
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class: Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Order: Cyperales
Family: Poaceae ⁄ Gramineae
Genus: Erianthus
Species: E. alopecuroides
Binomial name
Erianthus alopecuroides
(L.) Nutt.
SACC ALOP dist.jpg
Natural range of Erianthus alopecuroides from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: Silver plumegrass

Taxonomic notes

Synonyms: Saccharum alopecuroides (Linnaeus) Nuttall; Saccharum alopecuroideum (Linnaeus) Nuttall; Erianthus divaricatus (Linnaeus) A.S. Hitchcock

Description

Erianthus are "coarse perennials from hardened bases or short rhizomes; culms usually purplish, nodes usually, glabrous or upper appressed pubescent, internodes usually glabrous. Leaves primarily cauline; blades scaberulous, usually densely long hirsute above ligule; sheaths usually glabrous; ligules membranous, ciliate, 1-4 mm long; collars long-hirsute. Panicle solitary, terminal, ovoid to ellipsoid. Racemes numerous, most ascending, joints and pedicels subequal, 2-6 mm long, scaberulous or villous. Spikelets in pairs, fertile, sessile and pedicellate, yellowish to purplish, ovoid. Glumes cartilaginous, acuminate, subequal; lemmas and paleas hyaline to purplish, shorter than glumes; callus usually bearded. Grain reddish, ellipsoid, 2-3.5 mm long."[1]

Specifically, Erianthus alopecuroides have "culms to 3 m tall. Blades to 7.5 dm long and 3 cm wide. Panicle whitish to tawny, 1.5-3 dm long, 5-12 cm broad; rachis long villous. Spikelets villous, 6-8 mm long, awns twisted, flat, 10-16 mm long; callus beard exceeding spikelet. Grain 2.5 mm long."[1]

Distribution

E. alopecuroides is generally distributed from New Jersey west to Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and Oklahoma south to Florida and Texas.[2]

Ecology

Habitat

This species grows in roadsides, fields, and woodland borders.[2] In the Coastal Plain in Florida and Georgia, E. alopecuroides can be found in longleaf pine forests, annually burned pinelands, fallow quail food patches, frequently burned mature longleaf pine-wiregrass communities, bordering wild plum thickets, pine-oak-hickory woods, mixed hardwood forests, and mesic woodlands. It can also be found along roadsides, cutover pineland clayhills, and powerline corridors. Soils include sandy loam, clayey soil, and loamy sand.[3]

Phenology

This species generally flowers in October.[2] It has been observed to flower and fruit from September through November.[3][4]

Use by animals

It consists of approximately 2-5% of the diet for various terrestrial birds.[5]

Conservation and management

E. alopecuroides is listed as presumed extirpated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Natural Areas and Preserves.[6]

Cultivation and restoration

Photo Gallery

References and notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 160-1. Print.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Weakley, A. S. (2015). Flora of the Southern and Mid-Atlantic States. Chapel Hill, NC, University of North Carolina Herbarium.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: July 2015. Collectors: R. A. Norris, D. E. Powell, Robert K. Godfrey, Roy Komarek, Loran C. Anderson, Richard S. Mitchell, Andre F. Clewell, Travis MacClendon, B. Boothe, M. Boothe, K. MacClendon, Cindi Stewart, Annie Schmidt. States and Counties: Florida: Calhoun, Gadsden, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Okaloosa, Wakulla. Georgia: Thomas. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.
  4. Nelson, G. PanFlora: Plant data for the eastern United States with emphasis on the Southeastern Coastal Plains, Florida, and the Florida Panhandle. www.gilnelson.com/PanFlora/ Accessed: 8 MAY 2019
  5. Miller, J.H., and K.V. Miller. 1999. Forest plants of the southeast and their wildlife uses. Southern Weed Science Society.
  6. USDA, NRCS. (2016). The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 8 May 2019). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.