Piptochaetium avenaceum

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Piptochaetium avenaceum
Pipto aven.jpg
Photo by Guy Anglin, Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class: Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Order: Cyperales
Family: Poaceae ⁄ Gramineae
Genus: Piptochaetium
Species: P. avenaceum
Binomial name
Piptochaetium avenaceum
(L.) Parodi
PIPT AVEN dist.jpg
Natural range of Piptochaetium avenaceum from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common names: blackseed speargrass, eastern needlegrass, black oatgrass[1], blackseed needlegrass[2] [3][4]

Taxonomic notes

Synonyms: Stipa avenacea Linnaeus.[1]

Varieties: none.[1]

Description

P. avenaceum is a cespitose perennial with culms that are 5-10 dm tall and glabrous nodes and internodes. The leaves are basal, with blades that are 3.5 dm long, 1-1.5 mm wides, scaberulous above and on the margins, and glabrous beneath. The sheaths are 2 mm long and have a glabrous texture, scarious margin and ligule. The open panicle is 1-3 dm long and 3-6 cm broad. The branches are ascending and scaberulous. Spikelets are 1-flowered, disarticulating above glumes, and 1 cm long (excluding the lemma awn). Glumes are scarious, acuminate to short-awned. The first glume is 3-nerved and 9-11 mm long, while the second glume is 5-nerved and 11-13 mm long. The lemmas are nerveless, brownish-purplish, lustrous, indurate, with scarious margins. Their bodies are 9-10 mm long and their awns are 4-6 cm long. The paleas are 9-10 mm long, scarious, glabrous, acuminate, with a brown hirsute callus. The grain is yellowish, linear, and 5-6 mm long.[5]

Distribution

This plant ranges from Massachusetts, Kentucky, southern Illinois, and central Oklahoma to central Florida and southern Texas. There are disjunct populations in northern Indiana and western Michigan.[1]

Ecology

Habitat

In the Coastal Plain in Florida and Georgia, Piptochaetium avenaceum is found in live oak groves, open sandy ridges, mesic coastal hammocks, woodland openings, floodplain edges, along creeks, lake slopes, upland mixed forests, mixed pinewoods, open mixed woodlands, annually burned savannas and pine-oak, open stand of shrubs and trees of Ilex vomitoria, and floodplains.[6] Human disturbed areas include roadsides, recreation areas, nature trails, stands of old field pines cleared of underbrush, and along city roads. It has been observed to grow in dry loamy sand, sandy soils, limestone outcrops, calcareous slopes and moist loamy sands.[6]

P. avenaceum reduced its occurrence in response to soil disturbance by agriculture in old field longleaf communities in South Carolina. It has shown resistance to regrowth in reestablished native habitat that was disturbed by agricultural practices, making it a remnant woodland indicator species.[7][8][9]

Associated species include Melica mutica, Festuca, Erigeron, Verbena, Vitis rotundifolia, Rubus trivialis and Ilex vomitoria.[6]

Phenology

P. avenaceum flowers from April through June.[1]

Fire ecology

Needlegrass is one of the dominant ground cover species across longleaf pine forest; it provides a vital source of fuel for prescribed fire that is necessary to maintain the habitat.[10][11][12]

Herbivory and toxicology

The seeds of P. avenaceum are a food source for songbirds.[13][14][15]

Conservation, cultivation, and restoration

Cultural use

Photo Gallery

References and notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Weakley, A.S. 2020. Flora of the Southeastern United States. Edition of 20 October 2020. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "weakley" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "weakley" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "weakley" defined multiple times with different content Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "weakley" defined multiple times with different content
  2. ↑ Denhof, Carol. 2020. Plant Spotlight Piptochaetium avenaceum (L.) Parodi Blackseed Needlegrass Grass Family - Poaceae. The Longleaf Leader. Vol. XIII, Issue 1. Pg. 7
  3. ↑ Miller, J.H. and K.V. Miller. 2005. Forest Plants of the Southeast and their Wildlife Uses. The University of Georgia Press. Athens, GA. 454pp.
  4. ↑ USDA, NRCS. 2020. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 11 February 2-2-). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.
  5. ↑ Radford, A. E., Ahles, H. E., & Bell, C. R. (1968). Manual of the vascular flora of the Carolinas. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: July 2015. Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, K. MacClendon, T. MacClendon, Robert K. Godfrey, K. Craddock Burks, Jean W. Wooten, Swallen, George R. Cooley, Joseph Monachino, Gary R. Knight, Brenda Herring, Don Herring, Richard S. Mitchell, H. Kurz, Patricia Elliot, R. Komarek, R. A. Norris, Matt Hils, Annie Schmidt. States and Counties: Florida: Alachua, Calhoun, Escambia, Gadsden, Hernando, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Liberty, Nassau, Okaloosa, St. Johns, Suwannee, Wakulla. Georgia: Grady, Thomas. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.
  7. ↑ Brudvig, L.A. and E.I. Damchen. (2011). Land-use history, historical connectivity, and land management interact to determine longleaf pine woodland understory richness and composition. Ecography 34: 257-266.
  8. ↑ Brudvig, L.A., E Grman, C.W. Habeck, and J.A. Ledvina. (2013). Strong legacy of agricultural land use on soils and understory plant communities in longleaf pine woodlands. Forest Ecology and Management 310: 944-955.
  9. ↑ Brudvig, L.A., J.L. Orrock, E.I. Damschen, C.D. Collins, P.G. Hahn, W.B. Mattingly, J.W. Veldman, and J.L. Walker. (2014). Land-Use History and Contemporary Management Inform an Ecological Reference Model for Longleaf Pine Woodland Understory Plant Communities. PLoS ONE 9(1): e86604.
  10. ↑ Denhof, Carol. 2020. Plant Spotlight Piptochaetium avenaceum (L.) Parodi Blackseed Needlegrass Grass Family - Poaceae. The Longleaf Leader. Vol. XIII, Issue 1. Pg. 7
  11. ↑ Miller, J.H. and K.V. Miller. 2005. Forest Plants of the Southeast and their Wildlife Uses. The University of Georgia Press. Athens, GA. 454pp.
  12. ↑ USDA, NRCS. 2020. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 11 February 2-2-). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.
  13. ↑ Denhof, Carol. 2020. Plant Spotlight Piptochaetium avenaceum (L.) Parodi Blackseed Needlegrass Grass Family - Poaceae. The Longleaf Leader. Vol. XIII, Issue 1. Pg. 7
  14. ↑ Miller, J.H. and K.V. Miller. 2005. Forest Plants of the Southeast and their Wildlife Uses. The University of Georgia Press. Athens, GA. 454pp.
  15. ↑ USDA, NRCS. 2020. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 11 February 2-2-). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC 27401-4901 USA.
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