Erianthus coarctatus

Erianthus coarctatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta – Flowering plants
Class:	Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Order:	Cyperales
Family:	Poaceae ⁄ Gramineae
Genus:	Erianthus
Species:	E. coarctatus
Binomial name
Erianthus coarctatus (Fernald) R. Webster
Natural range of Erianthus coarctatus from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: compressed plumegrass

Taxonomic notes

Synonym: Erianthus brevibarbis Michaux; Saccharum coarctatum (Fernald) R.D. Webster; Erianthus coarctatus var. coarctatus; Erianthus coarctatus var. elliottianus Fernald

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." - Radford et al 1964.

Specifically, for this species, they grow "culms 1-1.5 m tall. Blades to 4 dm long and 1 cm wide. Panicle tawny or purplish, 3-3.5 dm long, usually 3-5 cm broad; rachis villous. Raceme nearly erect, appressed. Spikelets usually scaberulous, 6-9 mm long, awns terete, scaberulous, nearly straight, 2-3 cm long; callus beard slightly shorter than to equaling spikelet. Grain 3 mm long." - Radford et al 1964.

Distribution

It is found in the lowland areas of old growth longleaf pine sandhill community at the Wade Tract, Thomas County, Georgia.

Ecology

Habitat

In the Coastal Plain in Florida, E. coarctatus can be found in mesic flatwoods, lake shores, pinewoods, sloughs, along canal banks, swales, hillside bogs, dried up ponds, and pine-oak woodlands. It can also be found in roadside ditches and cleared pine flatwoods. Soil types include loamy sand and sandy peat.

Phenology

Flowers and fruits August through November (FSU Herbarium).

References and notes

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: July 2015. Collectors: Loran C. Anderson, Robert K. Godfrey, J. B. Morrill, R. Kral, Jean W. Wooten. States and Counties: Florida: Dixie, Duval, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jackson, Jefferson, Leon, Nassau, Wakulla. Compiled by Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy.

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. 160-3. Print.