Plants annual; usually tufted, occasionally stoloniferous. Culms
10-100+ cm. Sheaths usually glabrous; ligules to 4 mm, erose or
ciliate; blades to 30 cm long, to 15 mm wide, basal hairs to 4 mm, otherwise
usually glabrous, occasionally pilose. Panicles digitate, with 4-20, evidently
distinct branches; branches 5-10 cm, erect to ascending, averaging 10 spikelets
per cm. Spikelets strongly imbricate, with 1 bisexual and 1(2) sterile
floret(s). Lower glumes 1.5-2.5 mm; upper glumes 2.5-4.3 mm; lowest
lemmas 2.5-4.2 mm, keels usually prominently gibbous, glabrous, or conspicuously
pilose, sides not grooved, margins glabrous, scabrous or pilose basally, with
conspicuously longer hairs distally, hairs longer than 1.5 mm, lemma apices not
conspicuously bilobed, awned, awns 2.5-15 mm; second florets 1.4-2.9 mm
long, 0.4-0.8 mm wide, somewhat widened distally, not inflated, bilobed, lobes
less than 1/5 as long as the lemmas, awned from the sinuses, awns 3-9.5 mm; third
florets greatly reduced, unawned and shorter than the subtending rachilla segment
or absent but the rachilla segment present. Caryopses 1.5-2 mm long, about
0.5 mm wide, elliptic. 2n = 20, 26, 30, 40.
Chloris virgata is a widespread species that grows in many habitats, from
tropical to temperate areas with hot summers, including much of the United States.
It is a common weed in alfalfa fields of the southwestern United States.
Dr. David Bogler, USDA NRCS PLANTS Database
Annuals, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stolons or runners present, 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, 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 smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath or blade keeled, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf sheath enlarged, inflated or distended, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades more or less hairy, L igule present, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence a panicle with digitately arranged spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Lower panicle branches whorled, Inflorescence branches paired or digitate at a single node, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelet with 1 fertile floret and 1-2 sterile florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, R achilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma apex truncate, rounded, or obtuse, 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 subapical or dorsal, Lemma awns straight or curved to base, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma saccate or swollen, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea shor
Spreading to erect annual 2-5 dm; uppermost sheaths inflated; blades 3-6 mm wide, tapering to a sharp point; spikes crowded, erect or ascending, 3-8 cm; glumes acuminate, fertile lemma long-white-ciliate on the margins distally and on the keel toward the base, its awn 4-9 mm; sterile lemma narrowly wedge-obovate, its awn 3-7 mm. Native to trop Amer., widespread as a weed in sw. U.S., and occasionally adventive in our range as far n. as Me.
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.