Gulf Bluestem

Schizachyrium maritimum (Chapm.) Nash, in Small, FL SE
U. S. 59. 1903.
Andropogon mariiimus Chapm. Fl. S. U. S. ed. 2. 668. 1883.
A glaucous perennial, with long creeping rootstocks, and smooth and glabrous leaves with spreading blades. Stems 4-6 dm. tall; leaf-sheaths compressed, keeled, the lower ones crowded and overlapping; blades 1 dm. long or less, 2-4 mm. broad, widely spreading; spike-like racemes usually partly included at the base, 3-4 cm. long, rather stout, the rachis commonly stout, the internodes about one half as long as the sessile spikelets, longciliate on the margins, the terminal hairs 5-7 mm. long, the pedicels as long as or longer than 1
1 the intemodes, ciliate on the margins with long hairs; sessile spikelet 8-9 mm. long, about twice as long as the internodes, the first scale glabrous, the fourth scale deeply 2-cleft at the apex for less than one half its length, the awn 1-1.5 cm. long, the brown column tightly spiral, a little shorter than the subula; pedicellate spikelet 5-7 mm. long, awnless, consisting of 4 scales, the outer 2 acuminate and usually awn-pointed, the fourth scale enclosing a staminate flower.
Type locality :'Sandy coast, western Florida.
Distribution : Along the seacoast, western Florida to Mississippi.