Amelichloa caudata

(Trin.) Arriaga & Barkworth
Common names: South american needlegrass
Synonyms: Stipa litoralis Achnatherum caudatum
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 24. Treatment on page 182.
Please click on the illustration for a higher resolution version.
Illustrator: Cindy Roché

Copyright: Utah State University

Plants cespitose, with knotty, rhizomatous bases. Culms 40-100 cm tall, 0.8-3 (4.8) thick, erect, glabrous; nodes usually 3. Basal sheaths mostly glabrous, margins ciliate distally; collars glabrous, often with tufts of hair to 1.5 mm on the margins; ligules 0.2-0.6 mm, membranous, ciliate, cilia 1-2 mm, longest at the margins; blades 25-70 cm long, 2-7 mm wide when flat, usually convolute and 0.4-0.8 mm in diameter, erect, abaxial surfaces smooth, adaxial surfaces mostly glabrous. Panicles 10-45 cm long, 2-8 cm wide, bases sometimes included in the upper leaf-sheaths; branches ascending to spreading, longest lower branches 4-12 cm. Glumes subequal, 5-11 mm, linear-lanceolate, 3-veined, midveins smooth, scabrous, or with stiff hairs, varying within a panicle, apices acuminate; florets 3.5-5 (7) mm long, about 0.8 mm thick, fusiform; calluses 0.5-1 mm, blunt, strigose, hairs 0.5-0.8 mm; lemmas hairy over the veins, hairs 0.5-0.8 mm, glabrous between the mid and lateral-veins, glabrous or hairy between the lateral and marginal veins, distal portion glabrous, tapering to the apices, apices with 0.7-1 mm hairs around the base of the awn; awns 12-25 mm, glabrous or scabrous, once or twice-geniculate; paleas 3.5-6.5 mm, 3/4 - 9/10 as long as the lemmas, pubescent over the central portion, apices involute; lodicules 3; anthers 2-4 mm in chasmogamous florets, cleistogamous florets sometimes with anthers of 2 lengths, about 0.4 mm and 0.7 mm, or all anthers of the same length, the long anthers penicillate. Caryopses about 3 mm long, 1-1.4 mm thick; style bases inclined, eccentric. 2n = unknown.

Discussion

Amelichloa caudata is native to South America, extending from central Chile to Uruguay and Argentina. It was collected, as Stipa litoralis Phil., on ballast dumps near Portland, Oregon, early in the twentieth century. Although it has not become established in the Flora region, it has done so in Australia. It is a potentially invasive weed. Species with anthers of three different lengths, and of two lengths within a floret, have been reported for Nassella; it appears to be the first report of this pattern in the species of Amelichloa.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.

"decumbent" is not a number.

... more about "Amelichloa caudata"
membranous +  and scarious +
2 +, 1 +  and 3 +
penicillate +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.4 cm4 mm <br />0.004 m <br />) +
acuminate +
Mirta O. Arriaga +
(Trin.) Arriaga & Barkworth +
twisted +  and not branched +
1 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
subterminal +  and eccentric +
scabrous +  and glabrous +
2 times-geniculate +
reduced +
1.2 cm12 mm <br />0.012 m <br /> (2.5 cm25 mm <br />0.025 m <br />) +
keeled +  and rounded +
rhizomatous +
intravaginal +, extravaginal +, branching +  and basal +
swelling +
25 cm250 mm <br />0.25 m <br /> (70 cm700 mm <br />0.7 m <br />) +
not evident +
cross +, linear +  and narrowly lanceolate +
0.04 cm0.4 mm <br />4.0e-4 m <br /> (0.08 cm0.8 mm <br />8.0e-4 m <br />) +
0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br /> (0.7 cm7 mm <br />0.007 m <br />) +
ascending;spreading +
spikelike +
well-developed +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br /> (0.2 cm2 mm <br />0.002 m <br />) +
South american needlegrass +
branching +  and not branching +
perennial +  and annual +
40 cm400 mm <br />0.4 m <br /> (100 cm1,000 mm <br />1 m <br />) +
intravaginal +  and basal +
not woody +
0.8 cm8 mm <br />0.008 m <br /> (3 cm30 mm <br />0.03 m <br />) +
0 +  and 1/3 +
liquid +, soft +  and hard +
capillary +
pistillate +  and staminate +
0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br /> (0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br />) +
sometimes longer +
cleistogamous +  and chasmogamous +
fusiform +
1-10-veined +
subtending +
linear-lanceolate +
subequal +
0.5 cm5 mm <br />0.005 m <br /> (1.1 cm11 mm <br />0.011 m <br />) +
membranous +
hairy +  and glabrous +
uncinate +
0.07 cm0.7 mm <br />7.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
solid +  and hollow +
basally concentrated +  and evenly distributed +
ovate +, rectangular +  and lanceolate +
membranous +  and coriaceous or indurate +
rounded +  and acute +
0.02 cm0.2 mm <br />2.0e-4 m <br /> (0.06 cm0.6 mm <br />6.0e-4 m <br />) +
membranous +
inconspicuous +
lanceolate +
fleshy +  and membranous +
concealed +  and prominent +
2 +  and 1 +
well-developed +
3/4 +  and 9/10 +
reduced +
0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br /> (0.65 cm6.5 mm <br />0.0065 m <br />) +
10cm +  and 45cm +
2 cm20 mm <br />0.02 m <br /> (8 cm80 mm <br />0.08 m <br />) +
dry +  and fleshy +
not prolonged +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.1 cm1 mm <br />0.001 m <br />) +
1 +  and 60 +
unisexual +  and bisexual +
laterally compressed +  and terete +
1 +  and 3 +
simple +  and compound +
2 (?) +  and 3 (?) +
plumose +
Stipa litoralis +  and Achnatherum caudatum +
Amelichloa caudata +
Amelichloa +
species +
membranous +
0.05 cm0.5 mm <br />5.0e-4 m <br /> (0.35 cm3.5 mm <br />0.0035 m <br />) +
0 cm0 mm <br />0 m <br /> (0.15 cm1.5 mm <br />0.0015 m <br />) +
inconspicuous +
plant +  and cespitose +
aquatic +  and terrestrial +
12 +, 11 +, 10 +, 8 +  and 7 +