Florida Dropseed

Sporobolus floridanus Chapm. Fl. S. U. S. 550. 1860
Perennial, more robust than S. Curtissii; culms cespitose, erect, glabrous, with no nodes above the base, 75-100 cm. tall; sheaths compressed, glabrous, sometimes pilose near the summit; ligule very short; blades continuous with the sheath, those of the main culm mostly flat, mostly folded at base, scaberulous on the margin, rather abruptly acute, elongate, 1-5 mm. wide, those of the innovations slender, tightly folded, pilose around the base and summit of the sheath; panicles narrow, open, mostly purple, 15-35 cm. long, the axis angled, scaberulous, the branches and branchlets ascending, scabrous, pilose or pubescent in the axils, solitary or more or less clustered, the lower as much as 15 cm. long; spikelets 4—5 mm. long, mostly shorter than the pedicels; glumes subequal or the first shorter; lemma and palea mostly a little longer than
the second glume.
Type locality: Middle and western Florida.
Distribution: Low pine barrens, Georgia and Florida.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostl y open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath or blade keeled, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf sheath indurate basally, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes prese nt, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 1 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.