POVERTY OATGRASS
File Size: 33 KB
 
Danthonia spicata   (L. ) Beauv. ex  Roem.
Cherokee County, Kansas
Perennial
Height: 8-28 inches
Family: Poaceae - Grass Family
Flowering Period:   May, June, July
Culms: Erect, slender, stiff, unbranched, glabrous.
Blades: Numerous leaves in dense basal cluster; erect and ascending; blades filiform, 1 to 6 inches long, .04 to .08 inch wide, sparsely pilose or glabrous, margins often ciliate, involute at maturity, often curling with age.
Sheaths: Shorter than internodes, open, glabrous or sparsely pilose, usually with tuft of hairs at throat.
Ligules: Short line of hairs
Inflorescences: Panicle, erect or ascending, sparsely branched, contracted or open, few-flowered, 1 to 2.5 inches long, .2 to .6 inch wide; branches short, bearing 1 or 2 spikelets.
Spikelets: Pedicels ascending, short, stiff; 4-9-flowered, .3 to .5 inch long, disarticulating above glumes and between florets; florets not close approximate; glumes nearly equal, narrowly lanceolate, .3 to .6 inch long, much exceeding lemmas, similar in size and shape, glabrous, tips acute or acuminate; lemmas broadly ovate, .16 to .2 inch, sparingly hairy, tip narrowed to two teeth, teeth acuminate, awn arising between teeth, .2 to .4 inch long, twisted and divergent when mature; palea broad, flat, obtuse.
Habitat: Open or dry woods, rocky slopes, upland prairies, roadsides, and dry, disturbed sites; prefers full sun.
Distribution: East 1/4 of Kansas
Origin: Native
Forage Value: Low forage palatability for livestock.
Comments: Poverty oatgrass forms tufts.

Poverty oatgrass flowering
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Cherokee County, Kansas
Poverty oatgrass collar inflorescence
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Cherokee County, Kansas
Poverty oatgrass inflorescence
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Cherokee County, Kansas
Poverty oatgrass flowering inflorescence
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Cherokee County, Kansas
Poverty oatgrass blades
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Poverty oatgrass habit
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Wildcat Glades, Newton County, Missouri
Poverty oatgrass inflorescence
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Poverty oatgrass
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