Streambank Rabbit's Foot Grass

Polypogon elongatus H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 134. 1815
Alopecurus elongatus Poir. in Lam. Encvc. Suppl. 5: 495. 1817. (Based on Polypogon elongatus
H.B.K.) Raspailia agrostoides Presl, Rel. Haenk. 1: 239. 1830. (Type from Peru.) Nowodworskya agtostoides Presl, Rel. Haenk. 1: 351. 1830. (Based on Raspailia agrostoides Presl.)
Perennial; culms erect or often decumbent at base, glabrous, rather stout, as much as 1 meter tall; sheaths glabrous; ligule nearly glabrous, somewhat nerved, lacerate at the rather broad summit, as much as 8 mm. long; blades scabrous on the margins, glabrous or somewhat scabrous on the surfaces, as much as 20 cm. long and 1 cm. wide; panicle erect or nodding at summit, somewhat loose and interrupted, especially bekrw, mostly 15-30 cm. long, the slender branches closely flowered to base, or with some naked at base intermixed, in close clusters or verticils; glumes hispidulous, about 3 mm. long, gradually narrowed to an awn 2-3 mm. long; lemma 1.5 mm. long, the awn from below the tip, 1-2 mm. long.
Type locality: Chillo, Ecuador.
Distribution: Marshes, borders of streams, ditches, and wet places, Mexico to Argentina.

Perennials, Aquatic, leaves emergen t, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades 1-2 cm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomeru le, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence spike ovoid, lanceolate, or oblong, not more than twice as long as wide, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets falling with parts of disarticulating rachis or pedicel, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes awned, awn 1-5 mm or longer, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex dentate, 3-5 fid, Lemma mucronate, very s hortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awn from sinus of bifid apex, Lemma awns straight or curved to base, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.