Feather Fingergrass

Nile region, oases and Gebel Elba.

Throughout the tropics.

Sandy ground beside water and in areas of cultivation.

Annual.

This is a widespread and very variable, weedy annual, recognized by the conspicuous tufts of spreading, silky hairs on the upper lemma margins, together with a digitate inflorescence of erect racemes. It extends from the tropics well into temperate regions where the summers are hot.

From sea-level to 3500 m. According to Duthie this species, known in North America as Feather Finger-grass, is one of the characteristic grasses of the saline or usar tracts of Northwest India and Baluchistan and is reputed to be a good fodder grasses.

It is reputed to be a good fodder grass.

Culm procumbent, rooting at the basal node. Blade linear, 8-10 cm long; ligule about 0.5 mm long, fimbriate, pubescent on the back. Inflorescence of digitately arranged spikes. Spikelets 2-flowered, about 3-4 mm long (excluding awn), sessile; glumes lanceolate, hyaline, conspicuously 1-nerved; the lower glume 2/3 the length of the upper, about 1.5 mm long, acute or shortly awned; the upper about 2.2 mm long, conspicuously awned; lower floret fertile, lemma ovate-lanceolate, with a sinus at the apex, subcoriaceous, about 3 mm long, densely covered with silky hairs, especially along upper margin, 3-nerved, midrib prolonged into a long awn of about 7 mm long; palea subcoriaceous, as long as the lemma, 2-keeled, minutely 2-toothed; upper floret reduced to merely a lemma of about 2 mm long. Caryopsis elliptical, about 2 mm long; embryo 3/4 the length of the caryopsis.

Annual. Culms tufted, erect or geniculately ascending, slightly flattened, 15–100 cm tall. Basal leaf sheaths strongly keeled, glabrous; leaf blades flat or folded, 5–30 cm, 2–7 mm wide, glabrous, adaxial surface scabrous, apex acuminate; ligule 0.5–1 mm, glabrous or ciliate. Racemes digitate, 5–12, erect or slightly slanting, 2–10 cm, silky, pale brown or tinged pink or purple; rachis scabrous or hispid. Spikelets with 2 or 3 florets, 2-awned; lower glume 1.8–2.2 mm; upper glume 3–4 mm, acuminate; lemma of fertile floret obovate-lanceolate in side view, 2.8–3.5 mm, keel gibbous, conspicuously bearded on upper margins with a spreading tuft of 2.5–3.5 mm silky hairs, margins, keel and flanks silky-ciliate or glabrous; awn 5–15 mm; second floret sterile, oblong, glabrous, awn 4–10 mm; third floret occasionally present, reduced to a small clavate scale, awnless. Fl. and fr. Jun–Oct. 2n = 14, 20, 26, 30, 40.

Annual; culms up to 1 m high, erect or geniculately ascending, occasionally rooting at the lower nodes, glabrous below the inflorescence. Leaf-blades flat, (5-) 10-30 cm long, 2.6 mm wide, tapering at the apex; basal sheaths strongly keeled and often flabellate. Inflorescence of 4-12 digitate, spreading, feathery spikes 2-10 cm long. Spikelets (2-)3-flowered, 2-awned; lower glume 1.5-2.5 mm long; upper glume 2.5-4.5 mm long including the short awn-point if present; lowest lemma obliquely obovate in side view, 254 mm long, pallid or dark, ciliate along the margins, keel and flanks, with a crown of hairs 1.5-4 mm long, the awn 5-15 mm long; callus rounded, ciliate; 2nd lemma slightly projecting from the side of the lowest lemma, oblong, 2-2.5 mm long, glabrous, with an awn 5-12 mm long; 3rd lemma an awnless clavate scale 0.5-1.2 mm long.

Widely distributed throughout the tropics of both hemispheres.

Distribution: Pakistan (Baluchistan); widely distributed throughout the tropics of both hemispheres.

Gansu, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Henan, Jiangsu, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, Ningxia, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Xizang, Yunnan [Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan; Africa, America, SW Asia, Australia, Pacific Islands].

Tropics of both hemispheres.

2900 m

Fl. & Fr. Per: April-November.

Common on stony slopes, steppe, sandy riversides, roadsides, fields, plantations, frequent on walls and roofs; sea level to 3700 m.

Chloris caudata Trinius ex Bunge.

virgata: twiggy

Chloris virgata Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. 203. 1797
Chloris pubescens Lag. Var. Ci. 4: 143. 1805. (Type from Peru.)
Rahdochloa virgata Beauv. Agrost. 84, 158, 176. 1812. (Presumably based on Chloris rirgala Sw.)
Chloris compressa DC. Cat. PI. Hort. Monsp. 94. 1813. (Type cultivated at Montpellier.)
Chloris elegans H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 166. 1816. (Type from Mexico. Humboldt fBonpland.)
Chloris alba Presl, Rel. Haenk. 1: 289. 1830. (Type from Mexico, Haenke.)
Chloris penicillata Willd.; Stcud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 1: 353, as synonym of C. elegans H.B.K. 1840.
Chloris alba var. aristulala Torr. Pacific R. R. Rep. 4: 155. 1857. (Localities cited, banks of the
upper Rio Grande [Emory Exped.]; Texas, Drummond 395.) Agrostomia barbala Cerv. Naturaleza 1: 346. 1870. (Type from Cuernavaca, Mexico.)
Annual; culms erect, or usually decumbent at the base, sometimes rooting at the lower nodes, 10 cm. to more than a meter tall; sheaths compressed-keeled, glabrous, mostly longer than the intemodes; ligule very short, minutely ciliate; blades flat, 4-25 cm. long, 3-7 mm. wide, scaberulous or nearly smooth on both surfaces, sometimes more or less papillose-pilose on the upper surface near the base, the margins scabrous; spikes 3-15 (usually about 6), 3-9 cm. (usually 5-6 cm.) long, erect or narrowly ascending, flexuous, crowded in a rather dense silvery head; spikelets 3-3.5 mm. long; glumes acuminate, l-nerved, scabrous on the keel, the first 1.5-2.5 mm. long, the second 2.5-3 mm. long, with an awn about 1 mm. long; fertile floret 3-3.5 mm. long, the callus bearded, the lemma acute, the keel bowed out at the middle, short-ciliate on the margins on the lower part, long-ciliate on the upper third, the hairs as much as 4 mm. long, the awn rather stout, 6-10 mm. long, scabrous; rudiment 2-2.5 mm. long, about 0.7 mm. wide, subacute, the awn 5-7 mm. long.
Typb locality: Antigua (Swariz).
Distribution: A weed in fields and waste places, central and southwestern United States, Mexico, and the West Indies; also in South America and the Old World.

Annuals, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stolons or runners present, 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 solid or spongy, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 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 hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath or blade keeled, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf sheath enlarged, inflated or distended, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades more or less hairy, L igule present, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence a panicle with digitately arranged spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Lower panicle branches whorled, Inflorescence branches paired or digitate at a single node, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelet with 1 fertile floret and 1-2 sterile florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, R achilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, Lemma apex dentate, 2-fid, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awn 1-2 cm long, Lemma awn subapical or dorsal, Lemma awns straight or curved to base, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma saccate or swollen, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea shorter than lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Chloris virgata is a species of grass known by the common names feather fingergrass feathery Rhodes-grass and feather windmill grass.