Crimson Bluestem

This grass is widely distributed in tropical and warmer, subtropical parts of the world.

Perennial, tussocky, whole plant often reddish brown. Culms erect, hard, 50–120 cm tall, 2–4 mm in diam., simple or branched, glabrous. Leaf sheaths keeled, glabrous; leaf blades linear, flat, 5–20 × 0.1–0.5 cm, glabrous, margins scabrid, apex acute; ligule ca. 1 mm. Raceme very slender, erect, distant, 3–9 cm, dark purplish red, finally long exserted from spatheole; rachis internodes and pedicels linear-clavate, equaling or slightly shorter than sessile spikelet, glabrous or white-ciliate. Sessile spikelet 5–8 mm; lower glume linear, leathery, convex with inflexed margins, keeled from below middle to apex, back scabrid, veins obscure, keels very narrowly winged toward apex, apex 2-toothed; upper lemma 2-lobed to near base; awn 1–2 cm. Pedicelled spikelet lanceolate, reduced to 1 or 2 glumes, 2.8–4 mm, lower glume with awn up to 3 mm. Fl. and fr. Jul–Dec.

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Xizang, Yunnan [India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam; Africa, America, Australia].

Dry hillsides; near sea level to 3600 m.

Rottboellia sanguinea Retzius, Observ. Bot. 3: 25. 1783; Andropogon hirtiflorus (Nees) Kunth; A. sanguineus (Retzius) Merrill; Schizachyrium hirtiflorum Nees.

Schizachyrium semiberbe Nees, Agrost. Bras. 336. 1829
Andropogon vaginaius J. Presl, in Presl, Rel. Haenk. 1 : 336. 1830. Not A . vaginaius RH. 1816*
Andropogon velaius Kunth, Enum. 1 : 488. 1833.
Andropogon semiberbis Kunth, Enum. 1 : 489. 1833.
Andropogon semiberbis genuinus pruinatus Hack, in DC. Monog. Phan. 6 : 370. 1889.
Andropogon semiberbis incerius Hack, in DC. Monog. Phan. 6 : 370. 1889.
Sorgum semiberbe Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 792. 1891.
A smooth and glabrous tufted perennial, with intravaginal innovations. Stems 6-12 dm. tall, the branches in I's or 2's; leaf-sheaths compressed, keeled; blades 3 dm. long or less, 2-5 mm. wide; spike-like racemes 5-8 cm. long, partially included at the base, the internodes equaling or shorter than the sessile spikelets, glabrous, or rarely with a few short hairs, the pedicels stout, oblong-elliptic, shorter than the internodes, ciliate only on the outer margin; sessile spikelet 5-7 mm. long, the first scale rounded on the back, glabrous, or rarely with a few short hairs, roughened, acuminate, the edges of the infolded margins touching each other, the third and fomrth scales ciliate, the latter deeply 2-cleft nearly to the base, the awn 12-15 mm, long, the brown column tightly spiral, exserted, about equaling the subula ; pedicellate spikelet consisting of a single hispidulous scale about 3 mm. long, with an awn about as long.
Type locality : Southern Brazil.
Distribution : Florida to Cuba and Porto Rico, and from Mexico to Ecuador and Brazil.

Schizachyrium semiglabrum Nash, sp. uov
A tufted perennial with intravaginal innovations. Stems 6-8 dm. tall, slender, smooth and glabrous, often glaucous, somewhat compressed, especially near the nodes, sparingly branched, the branches single from the upper axils; spike-like racemes 5-7 cm. long, straight, the rachis not flexuous, the internodes and the pedicels long-ciliate on one margin with ascending hairs, the pedicels long-ciliate also on the outer margin near the apex, otherwise glabrous ; sessile spikelet 8-9 mm. long and about 1 mm. wide, lanceolate, the first scale about 6-nerved, including the two hispidulous keels, rough toward the apex, hirsute below with long ascending hairs, the second scale rough below, hispidulous on the keel, acuminate, the third and foiu-th scales claret-colored, the fourth ciliate on the margins and deeply 2-toothed at the apex, bearing an awn about 1.5 cm. long, the column tightly spiral, brown, the subula hispidulous, purplish, slightly twisted below.
Type coUected in .the Sierra Madre, near Colonia Garcia, Chihuahua, Mexico, September 19, 1899, C. H. T. Townsend & C. M. Barber 335 (herb. N. Y. Bot. Gard.). Distribution : Known only from the type locality.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, 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 ex ceeding 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 sheath enlarged, inflated or distended, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence lateral or axillary, Inflorescence with 2 or more spikes, fascicles, glomerules, heads, or clusters per culm, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Peduncle or rachis scabrous or pubescent, often with long hairs, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Inflorescence or spikelets part ially hidden in leaf sheaths, subtended by spatheole, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets paired at rachis nodes, Spikelets in paired units, 1 sessile, 1 pedicellate, Spikelets bisexual, 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 equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes keeled or winged, Glume surface hairy, villous or pilose, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 1 nerved, Lemma glabrous, 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 from sinus of bifid apex, Lemma awn twisted, spirally coiled at base, like a corkscrew, Lemma awn once geniculate, bent once, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.