|
| 1 |
Panicle branches in whorls; panicle open or sometimes loosely contracted |
|
(2) |
| + |
Panicle branches not whorled, or with a single whorl at the base |
|
(5) |
| |
|
|
|
| 2 (1) |
Annual |
|
Sporobolus coromandelianus |
| + |
Perennial |
|
(3) |
| |
|
|
|
| 3 (2) |
Harsh tussocky desert grass; leaves glaucous, involute, stiff and pungent |
|
Sporobolus arabicus |
| + |
Not or rarely a desert grass; leaves glaucous or green, flat or loosely inrolled, stiff or soft, attenuate but not pungent |
|
(4) |
| |
|
|
|
| 4 (3) |
Coastal grass; leaves glaucous, stiff, flat or loosely inrolled; spikelets 2.2-2.6(3) mm long |
|
Sporobolus kentrophyllus |
| + |
Grass of dryish or seasonally wet soils in the plains; leaves green, soft, flat; spikelets 1.5-2.2 mm long |
|
Sporobolus ioclados |
| |
|
|
|
| 5 (1) |
Panicle dense, spike-like or with the spikelets clustered about the whole length of the primary branches; lateral pedicels 0.1-0.5 mm long, stout, appressed |
|
(6) |
| + |
Panicle loose and diffuse, or if with the spikelets clustered then the base of the primary branches bare |
|
(8) |
| |
|
|
|
| 6 (5) |
Leaf-blades often involute, pungent; lower glume 3/5- 4/5 as long as the spikelet |
|
(7) |
| + |
Leaf-blades flat, not pungent; lower glume as long as the spikelet |
|
Sporobolus helvolus |
| |
|
|
|
| 7 (6) |
Spikelets 1.9-2.5 mm long; leaf-blades up to 10 cm
long and 4 mm wide; grain subglobose |
|
Sporobolus virginicus |
| + |
Spikelets 1.4-2.1 mm long; leaf-blades up to 3 cm long (rarely as long as 5 cm) and 0.4-1.7 mm wide; grain broadly oblong |
|
Sporobolus tremulus |
| |
|
|
|
| 8 (5) |
Panicle diffuse, at least at maturity |
|
(9) |
| + |
Panicle contracted, subspiciform, interrupted |
|
Sporobolus tourneuxii |
| |
|
|
|
| 9 (8) |
Spikelets 1.7-2.1 mm long, scattered; glumes acute;
grain ellipsoid |
|
Sporobolus nervosus |
| + |
Spikelets 1.2-1.6 mm long, rather crowded; glumes obtuse; grain oblong, truncate at the tip |
|
Sporobolus diander |
|
