Schizachyrium gracile (Spreng.) Nash

Schizachyrium gracile (Spreng.) Nash, in Small, Fl. SE
U. S. 60. 1903.
Andropogon gracilis Spreng. Syst. 1 : 284. 1825.

Andropogon juncifolius Desv.; Hamilt. Prodr. 9. 1825
Sorgum gracile Kutitze, Rev. Gen. 791. 1891.
A tufted perennial, with extravaginal innovations, smooth and glabrous with the exceptions mentioned below. Stems slender, rigid, 2-6 dm. tall, branched, the branches single or in pairs; leaf -sheaths glabrous, shorter than the internodes, strongly striate; blades 2 dm. long or less, very slender, terete, 0.8 mm. in diameter or less, strongly striate; spike-like racemes long-exserted, 3-5 cm. long, silvery-white, the rachis somewhat flexuous, the internodes a little shorter than the sessile spikelets, slender, the back and margins clothed with long hairs, those at the summit more than twice as long as the internodes, the pedicels as long as or a little shorter than the sessile spikelets; sessile spikelet 5-6 mm. long, the first scale chartaceous, faintly 2-nerved in addition to the keels> entire, smooth on the back, the keels his109
pidulous, the second scale equaling the first, acute, hispidulous on the keel, the fourth scale deeply 2-cleft for one quarter to one half its length, the awn 13-20 mm. long, the much-exserted column tightly spiral, the subtda loosely so; pedicellate spikelet consisting of a single scale 1-2.5 mm. long, short-awned.
Type locality : Hispaniola.
Distribution : Florida and the Bahamas, and from Jamaica and Cuba to Guadeloupe.

Perennials, Terrest rial, not aquatic, 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, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem internodes solid or spongy, 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 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 scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate 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 partially 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, Pedicellate spikelet rudimentary or absent, usually sterile, 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, 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 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 longer than lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.