Culms 60-120 cm tall, rarely more than 2 mm thick, erect, geniculate
at the base, often branched at maturity, not glaucous below the nodes; nodes
hirsute, hairs 3-4 mm, mostly erect to ascending, tan or off-white. Leaves
cauline; ligules 1-2 mm, often erose; blades 20-30 cm long, 2-7
mm wide, not glaucous, glabrous or sparingly pilose near the throat. Panicles
5-14(20) cm on the larger shoots, oblong to somewhat fan-shaped, silvery-white;
rachises 5-10 cm, straight, exserted or partially included in the sheath,
with numerous branches; branches 4-9 cm, erect, with several rames; rame
internodes with a membranous groove wider than the margins, margins densely
pilose, longest hairs 3-7 mm, concentrated distally. Sessile spikelets
4.5-7.3 mm; lower glumes short pilose, with or without a dorsal pit;
awns 20-35 mm; anthers 0.5-1 mm, often remaining within the spikelet.
Pedicellate spikelets 3-4 mm, narrowly lanceolate, sterile. 2n
= 180.
Bothriochloa barbinodis is a common species, at 500-1200 m, along roadsides,
drainage ways, and gravelly slopes in desert grasslands, from the southwestern
United States through Mexico and Central America to Bolivia and Argentina, and
has been found in the Hawaiian Islands. Plants with a pit on the back of their
lower glumes occur sporadically; they do not differ in any other respect from
those without pits. The species is sometimes used as an ornamental. It is tolerant
of coastal conditions and will grow as far north as Vancouver, British Columbia.
Bothriochloa barbinodis has been confused with three other species in the Flora region. It
differs from B. wrightii in not
having glaucous foliage, and in having oblong to merely somewhat fan-shaped
panicles with pedicellate spikelets that are definitely shorter than the sessile
spikelets; from B. alta in having shorter
culms, panicles, and nodal hairs; and from B.
springfieldii in having taller culms, wider leaves, shorter nodal hairs,
and more, less hairy panicles branches.
Dr. David Bogler, USDA NRCS PLANTS Database
Perennials, Terrestrial, 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 nodes bearded or hairy, Stem internodes solid or spongy, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems with inflorescence 1-2 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 hairy, hispid or prickly, 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 an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence with 2 or more spikes, fascicles, glomerules, heads, or clusters per culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence a panicle with digitately arranged spicate branches, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Inflorescence branches paired or digitate at a single node, Inflorescence branches paired racemes, V-shaped, Peduncle or rachis scabrous or pubescent, often with long hairs, Rachis dilated, flat, central axis to which spikelets are attached, Rachis grooved, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, 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 disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Spikelets falling with parts of disarticulating rachis or pedicel, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 1 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lem ma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn 2-4 cm long or longer, Lemma awned from tip, Lemma awn once geniculate, bent once, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid,