Schizachyrium sanguineum (Retz.) Alston

synonyms: Schizachyrium scoparium [misapplied in Hawai'i]


crimson bluestem


Info

Subfamily: Panicoideae
Genus etymology: Schizachyrium = "split chaff" [Greek] refering to the bifid upper lemmas
Species etymology: sanguineum = "blood red" [Latin] refering to the florets
Photosynthetic type: C4 (warm season)
Nativity: naturalized - accidental
First recorded in Hawaiʻi: 1987

Map

 Distribution of Schizachyrium sanguineum in Hawaiʻi.

Inflorescence

Schizachyrium sanguineum Inflorescence
Schizachyrium sanguineum Inflorescence
Schizachyrium sanguineum Inflorescence
Schizachyrium sanguineum Inflorescence

Habit

Schizachyrium sanguineum Habit
Schizachyrium sanguineum Habit
Schizachyrium sanguineum Habit

Spikelets

Schizachyrium sanguineum Spikelets
Schizachyrium sanguineum Spikelets
Schizachyrium sanguineum Spikelets
Schizachyrium sanguineum Spikelets
Schizachyrium sanguineum Spikelets
Schizachyrium sanguineum Spikelets
Schizachyrium sanguineum Spikelets

Description

Tufted perennial, the basal sheaths glabrous or rarely sparsely pubescent; culms 0.6–3 m. high, erect, the whole plant commonly reddish in colour. Leaf-blades 6–30 cm. long, 2–9 mm. wide, acute (sometimes abruptly so). Racemes 5–12(–20) cm. long; internodes and pedicels clavate, usually ciliate (hairs ± 1 mm.), sometimes glabrous or villous; spatheoles linear, the racemes pedunculate and ± exserted. Sessile spikelet linear, 5–10 mm. long, squeezed between internode and pedicel; lower glume subcoriaceous, apparently nerveless (except at the tip), keeled almost the whole length of the flanks, narrowly winged above, glabrous to villous; upper lemma bifid for 3/4 its length; awn 8–20 mm. long. Pedicelled spikelet lanceolate, 3–7 mm. long, acuminate or with an awn-point seldom over 3 mm. long. Fig. 178.
(Description source: Clayton, W.D. & Renvoize, S.A. 1982. Flora of Tropical East Africa. Gramineae (Part 3). A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam. 448 pp. )

Loosely caespitose perennial, eventually reddish throughout; culms up to 160 cm high, erect, branched; internodes terete. Leaf sheaths both shorter and longer than the internodes, occasionally villous towards the top; laminas 12.5–30 mm × 2.5–6 mm, keeled, tapering to a fine point at the apex. Racemes 4–18 cm long, exserted from the linear spatheoles, occasionally long-exserted; peduncles longer than the racemes; internodes and pedicels flattened, usually ciliate along both margins with hairs 2.5–4 mm long. Sessile spikelet 5.5–10 mm long, 1/2 as long again as the pedicel, narrowly lanceolate, laterally compressed, pointed at the base; inferior glume strongly convex, glabrous; superior lemma bifid in the upper 3/4; awn 10–22 mm long, geniculate; anthers 2.5–3.8 mm long. Pedicelled spikelet male or occasionally sterile, 4–7 mm long; inferior glume with an awn 1–4 mm long; anthers 1.3–2.3 mm long.
(Description source: Cope, T.A. (ed.). 2002. Flora Zambesiaca. Volume 10. Part 4. Kew, London. 190 pp. )

Plants cespitose. Culms 40–120 cm, erect, not rooting or branching at the lower nodes, glabrous. Sheaths glabrous, rounded; ligules 0.7–2 mm; blades 7–20 cm long, 1–6 mm wide, usually with long, papillose-based hairs basally, glabrous elsewhere, sometimes scabrous, without a longitudinal stripe of white, spongy tissue. Peduncles 4–6 cm; rames 4–15 cm, not open, usually almost fully exserted at maturity; internodes 4–6 mm, straight, from mostly glabrous with a tuft of hairs at the base to densely hirsute all over. Sessile spikelets 5–9 mm; calluses 0.5–1 mm, hairs to 2 mm; lower glumes glabrous or densely pubescent; upper lemmas cleft for (2/3)3/4–7/8 of their length; awns 15–25 mm. Pedicels 3–6 mm long, 0.3–0.5 mm wide at the base, gradually widening to about 0.6–0.8 mm at the top, straight. Pedicellate spikelets 3– 5 mm, usually evidently shorter than the sessile spikelets, sterile or staminate, awned, awns 0.3–6 mm.
(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/Schizachyrium_sanguineum )