Angleton Bluestem

This is an excellent fodder grass locally naturalized in southern Taiwan, even growing among rocks.

This species is very close to, and may simply be a variant of, Di-chanthium caricosum.

Culm geniculate, about 1 mm in diameter. Blade about 8 cm long by 3 mm wide, covered with tubercled hairs; ligule chartaceous, upper part minutely fimbriate, backside hairy, about 0.6 mm long. Inflorescence of digitate racemes, racemes about 4 cm long. Spikelets paired; the upper pedicelled; the lower sessile, about 4m long. Lower glume subcoriaceous, oblong, as long as the spikelet, 8-10- nerved, lower margins inrolled, upper part 2-keeled, densely hairy on the backside, margins ciliate; upper glume subcoriaceous, elliptical, margins inrolled and fimbriate 2-grooved on the backside, about 3.6 mm long; lemma about 3 mm long, linear, 1-nerved, with a flexuous awn arising from the tip, awn about 6 times the length of the lemma; palea hyaline, lanceolate, margins inrolled, nerveless, about 3.2 mm long, pale purple. Caryopsis oblong, about 1.8 mm long; embryo 1/2 the length of the caryopsis.

Perennial. Culms geniculate to suberect, 20–60 cm tall, nodes glabrous or pubescent. Leaf sheaths usually longer than internodes; leaf blades flat, 1.5–8(–20) × 0.3–0.6 cm, glabrous or thinly pilose on both surfaces; ligule ca. 0.6 mm, minutely fimbriate. Inflorescence terminal; peduncle softly pilose near the summit; racemes (1–)2–4, subdigitate, 2–5 cm, with 1–6 pairs of homogamous spikelets. Sessile spikelet 3–5 mm; lower glume obovate, subleathery, 8–10-veined, pubescent on lower back, slightly glossy, margins glabrous or shortly ciliate, keels often narrowly winged, apex rounded; upper glume glabrous or ciliate along margins and keel; awn 1.2–2 cm. Caryopsis ca. 1.8 mm. Pedicelled spikelet many-veined, resembling sessile. Fl. and fr. Jun–Nov. 2n = 20, 40, 60.

Distributed in India and now introduced into Australia, Africa and America.

Taiwan, Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia; introduced elsewhere].

Hill slopes; 500–1500 m.

Andropogon aristatus Poir. in Lam., Encycl. Meth. Bot. Suppl. 1: 585. 1810.

Andropogon aristatus Poiret in Lamarck, Encycl., Suppl. 1: 585. 1811; A. caricosus Linnaeus var. mollicomus (Kunth) Hackel; A. mollicomus Kunth.

aristatum: bearing a long bristle-like point; aristate

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Stolons or runners pr esent, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, 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 mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence with 2 or more spikes, fascicles, glomerules, heads, or clusters per culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence a panicle with digitately arranged s picate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Peduncle or rachis scabrous or pubescent, often with long hairs, Flowers bisexual, Flowers unisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelet with 1 fertile floret and 1-2 sterile florets, Spikelets paired at rachis nodes, Spikelets in paired units, 1 sessile, 1 pedicellate, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets unisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Spikelets falling with parts of disarticulating rachis or pedicel, Spikelets conspicuously hairy , Rachilla or pedicel hairy, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume surface hairy, villous or pilose, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 1 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma distinctl y awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn 1-2 cm long, Lemma awned from tip, Lemma awn twisted, spirally coiled at base, like a corkscrew, Lemma awn once geniculate, bent once, Lemma awn twice geniculate, bent twice, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Lemma surface pilose, setose or bristly, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Dichanthium aristatum is a species of grass in the family Poaceae. It is commonly used as a forage for livestock. Common names include angleton grass (Australia, Cuba); alabang X (Philippines); angleton blue-stem, yellow bluestem (United States); wildergrass (Hawai'i); hierba.