Plants cespitose. Culms 40-120 cm, erect, not rooting or branching
at the lower nodes, glabrous. Sheaths glabrous, rounded; ligules
0.7-2 mm; blades 7-20 cm long, 1-6 mm wide, usually with long, papillose-based
hairs basally, glabrous elsewhere, sometimes scabrous, without a longitudinal
stripe of white, spongy tissue. Peduncles 4-6 cm; rames 4-15 cm,
not open, usually almost fully exserted at maturity; internodes 4-6 mm,
straight, from mostly glabrous with a tuft of hairs at the base to densely hirsute
all over. Sessile spikelets 5-9 mm; calluses 0.5-1 mm, hairs to
2 mm; lower glumes glabrous or densely pubescent; upper lemmas cleft
for (2/3)3/4-7/8 of their length; awns 15-25 mm. Pedicels 3-6 mm
long, 0.3-0.5 mm wide at the base, gradually widening to about 0.6-0.8 mm at the
top, straight. Pedicellate spikelets 3-5 mm, usually evidently shorter
than the sessile spikelets, sterile or staminate, awned, awns 0.3-6 mm.
Schizachyrium sanguineum extends from the southern United States to Chile,
Paraguay, and Uruguay.
Culms 40-120 cm, branching at the upper nodes, glaucous. Ligules
1-2 mm; blades 10-20 cm long, 1.5-5 mm wide. Rames 4-10(12) cm;
internodes scabrous, glabrous or hirsute. Sessile spikelets 5-9
mm; lower glumes sparsely to densely hirsute on the back; awns
15-25 mm. Pedicels arcuate at maturity, ciliate on both edges distally.
Pedicellate spikelets 3-5 mm, staminate or sterile, awns 0.3-5 mm. 2n
= 40, 60, 70, 100.
In the Flora region, Schizachyrium sanguineum var. hirtiflorum
grows on rocky slopes and well-drained soils from Arizona to southwestern Texas
and Florida, and is considered a good forage species. Its range extends through
Central America to Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.