Twospike Fingergrass

Chloris floridana (Chapm.) Wood, Bot. & Flor. ed. 1871
407. 1871.
Eustachys floridana Chapm. FI. U. S. 557. I860. (Type from middle Florida.)
Perennial; culms in small tufts, rather slender, 30-SO cm. tall, flattened; leaves mostly crowded toward the base in a fan-shaped cluster; sheaths compressed, keeled, the lower ones much longer than the internodes, the upper culm-sheaths elongate but shorter than the internodes, bladeless or the blade very much reduced; ligule 0.5 mm. long, minutely ciliate; blades subobtuse, conduplicate or flat toward the tip, S-25 cm. (mostly 10-15 cm.) long, 4-6 mm. wide, glabrous, the margins scaberulous; spikes 1-3 (usually 2), conjugate or digitate, erect or narrowly ascending, 3-12 cm. (mostly 6-10 cm.) long, densely pubescent at the base; spikelets 3 mm. long, spreading; gliunes l-nered, scabrous, the first 2 mm. long, boat-shaped, acute, the second a Uttle longer but narrower than the first, oblong, obtuse, minutely lobed, with a scabrous awn about 1 mm. long; fertile floret dark-brown, 2.8 mm. long, the callus shortly bearded, the lemma subacute, appressed-pilose nearly to the summit on the keel and margins, the awn about 0.5 mm. long, scabrous; rudiment oblong, obtuse, 1.5 mm. long, glabrous, or scabrous at the simmiit, mucronate.
TTH locality: Florida.
Distribution; Dry open ground or pine woods, Georgia and Florida.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, 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 basal, below middle of stem, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath or blade keeled, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule 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 1-sided, Lower panicle branches whorled, Inflorescence branches paired or digitate at a single node, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 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 secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly un equal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma body or surface hairy, Lemma apex dentate, 2-fid, Lemma awnless, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awn from sinus of bifid apex, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Palea keels winged, scabrous, or ciliate, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.