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Info
Subfamily: Panicoideae
Genus etymology: Eremochloa = "solitary grass" [Greek] refering to the inflorescence being a single spike
Species etymology: ophiuroides = "resembling the genus Ophiurus C.F.Gaertn." [Latin] refering to the inflorescence; Ophiurus means "snake tail" in Greek
Photosynthetic type: C4 (warm season)
Nativity: naturalized - intentional
First recorded in Hawaiʻi: 1983
Map
Inflorescence
Plant
Habit
Spikelets
Landscape
Collar
Description
Plants mat-forming, stoloniferous, stolons to 150 cm, often branched, with well-developed leaves, and (usually) axillary fascicles of closely imbricate leaves. Culms 10-35 cm, unbranched. Sheaths mostly glabrous, margins sometimes pilose, keeled; leaves mostly basal, blades of basal leaves 0.5-15 cm long, 1-5 mm wide, glabrous or pilose, with papillose-based hairs near the base, margins glabrous or pectinate near the base; blades of upper leaves reduced to obsolete. Rames 1-3, 3-12 cm, straight; internodes 2-2.3 mm. Sessile spikelets (2.2)3-4 mm long, (1.1)1.8-2.2 mm wide, elliptic; calluses sparsely pubescent; glumes glabrous; lower glumes 5-7-veined, obtuse to truncate, often notched, keels with 1-several, 0.2-0.3 mm hooklike spines near the base, winged distally; upper glumes 3-veined, elliptic, acute; anthers of lower florets about 0.3 mm; anthers of upper florets 1.5-1.7 mm. Pedicels 2.8-3.5 mm long, about 0.5 mm wide at midlength. Pedicellate spikelets absent or to 3.4 mm, occasionally well-developed. Caryopses 1.5-2 mm, purple to reddish-brown or brown. 2n = 18.
(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/Cenchrus_americanus )