Bothriochloa pertusa (L.) A.Camus

synonyms: Andropogon pertusus


pitted bluestem, pitted beardgrass, white pili grass


Info

Subfamily: Panicoideae
Genus etymology: Bothriochloa = "pitted grass" [Greek] refering to the pits on the lower glume in most species
Species etymology: pertusa = "with a pit" [Latin] refering to th epit of the lower glume
Photosynthetic type: C4 (warm season)
Nativity: naturalized - intentional
First recorded in Hawaiʻi: 1916

Map

 Distribution of Bothriochloa pertusa in Hawaiʻi.
 Distribution of Bothriochloa pertusa in Hawaiʻi.

Inflorescence

Bothriochloa pertusa Inflorescence
Bothriochloa pertusa Inflorescence

Plant

Bothriochloa pertusa Plant
Bothriochloa pertusa Plant
Bothriochloa pertusa Plant

Habit

Bothriochloa pertusa Habit
Bothriochloa pertusa Habit
Bothriochloa pertusa Habit
Bothriochloa pertusa Habit
Bothriochloa pertusa Habit
Bothriochloa pertusa Habit

Spikelets

Bothriochloa pertusa Spikelets
Bothriochloa pertusa Spikelets
Bothriochloa pertusa Spikelets

Landscape

Bothriochloa pertusa Landscape
Bothriochloa pertusa Landscape
Bothriochloa pertusa Landscape
Bothriochloa pertusa Landscape

Node

Bothriochloa pertusa Node
Bothriochloa pertusa Node

Description

Plants cespitose or stoloniferous. Culms to 100 cm, often decumbent or stoloniferous, freely branching; nodes bearded. Leaves mostly basal, green, sometimes glaucous; sheaths glabrous, keeled; ligules 0.7-1.5 mm; blades 3-15 cm long, 3-4 mm wide, flat, margins and ligule regions hairy. Panicles 3-5 cm, fan-shaped, often purplish; rachises 0.2-2 cm, with 3-8 branches; branches 3-4.5 cm, longer than the rachises, usually with 1 rame; rame internodes with villous margins, with 1-3 mm hairs. Sessile spikelets 3-4 mm, lanceolate; callus hairs about 1 mm; lower glumes sparsely hirtellous, with a prominent dorsal pit near the middle; awns 10-17 mm; anthers 1-1.8 mm, yellow. Pedicellate spikelets the same size as the sessile spikelets, sterile, pitted or not, occasionally with 2 pits. 2n = 40, 60.
(Description source: Barkworth, M.E., Capels, K.M., Long, S. & Piep, M.B. (eds.) 2003. Flora of North America, north of Mexico. Volume 25. Magnoliophyta: Commelinidae (in part): Poaceae, Part 2. Oxford University Press, New York. 783 pp http://floranorthamerica.org/Bothriochloa_pertusa )

Sprawling perennials, rhizomes contracted; culms 30-100 cm tall, hollow, freely branching, glabrous except upwardly bearded at nodes, rooting at lower nodes. Sheaths keeled, hirsute; ligule a ciliate membrane, 0.7-1.2 mm long; blades 3-4 mm wide, with scattered, elongate, papillose-based hairs along margins and above ligule. Inflorescences terminal, often purplish, flabellate, 3-5 cm long, peduncles exserted up to 12 cm from the subglabrous, bladeless upper sheath, glabrous or slightly bearded at apex, consisting of several ascending racemes, racemosely arranged along a short axis, pedicels of pedicellate spikelet ca. 3 mm long, densely villous, flattened; pedicellate spikelet 3-4 mm long, sterile or sometimes staminate, often purple-tinged, scaberulous; sessile spikelet ca. 5 mm long; first glume subcoriaceous, with a conspicuous pit in the middle, villous on lower 1/2, scabrous on upper 1/2, attenuate, often bidentate at apex, second glume ca. 5 mm long, submembranous, keeled, minutely puberulent at apex, otherwise glabrous, apiculate; first (sterile) lemma 2.5-2.7 mm long, hyaline, ciliate on upper margins, fertile lemma reduced to a slender, geniculate, reddish brown awn 15-20 mm long; palea absent. Caryopsis ovoid to ellipsoid, 1.5-2 mm long. [2n = 36, 40, 60.]
(Description source: O’Connor, P.J. 1990. Poaceae, pp. 1481–1604. In: Wagner W.L., Herbst D.R. & Sohmer S.H. (eds.)., Manual of the flowering plant of Hawaiʻi. Vol. 2. University of Hawaii Press & Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu )