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  1. Family: Poaceae Barnhart
    1. Genus: Cenchrus L.

      1. Cenchrus gracillimus Nash

        This species is accepted, and its native range is SE. U.S.A., Caribbean.

    [GB]
    Habit
    Annual; caespitose. Culms 15-60 cm long. Leaf-sheaths keeled; glabrous on surface, or pilose. Ligule a fringe of hairs; 0.2-0.6 mm long. Leaf-blades 4.5-17 cm long; 1.1-3.3 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface smooth, or scabrous.
    Inflorescences
    Inflorescence a panicle. Panicle spiciform; linear; loose (internodes 4-10mm); 2-6.8 cm long; 0.8-1.9 cm wide. Primary panicle branches accrescent to a central axis; with sessile scars on axis. Panicle axis angular; scabrous; bearing deciduous spikelet clusters. Spikelets subtended by an involucre. Fertile spikelets sessile; 1-3 in the cluster. Involucre composed of bristles; connate into a cup below; ovate; 5.2-12.9 mm long; base obconical; base glabrous. Involucral bristles deciduous with the fertile spikelets; emerging irregularly from body of a burr; 3.2-6 mm long; flattened; rigid; retrorsely scaberulous; glabrous.
    Spikelets
    Spikelets comprising 1 basal sterile florets; 1 fertile florets; without rhachilla extension. Spikelets ovate; dorsally compressed; acuminate; 4-6.5 mm long; falling entire; deciduous with accessory branch structures.
    Fertile
    Spikelets comprising 1 basal sterile florets; 1 fertile florets; without rhachilla extension. Spikelets ovate; dorsally compressed; acuminate; 4-6.5 mm long; falling entire; deciduous with accessory branch structures.
    Glume
    Glumes shorter than spikelet; thinner than fertile lemma. Lower glume ovate; 1.4-3.1 mm long; 0.3-0.5 length of spikelet; membranous; without keels; 1 -veined. Lower glume lateral veins absent. Lower glume apex acute. Upper glume ovate; 3.2-5.4 mm long; 0.75 length of spikelet; membranous; without keels; 3-5 -veined. Upper glume apex acute.
    Florets
    Basal sterile florets barren; with palea. Lemma of lower sterile floret ovate; 4.1-6 mm long; 1 length of spikelet; membranous; 3-5 -veined; acute. Fertile lemma ovate; 3.9-6.5 mm long; coriaceous; much thinner on margins; without keel; 3 -veined. Lemma margins flat. Lemma apex obtuse. Palea coriaceous.
    Flowers
    Anthers 0.9-1.9 mm long.
    Fruits
    Caryopsis with adherent pericarp.
    Distribution
    North America: southeast USA. South America: Caribbean.
    Reference
    Paniceae. De Lisle.

    Images

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Alabama, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Florida, Georgia, Haiti, Jamaica, Mississippi, Puerto Rico, Turks-Caicos Is.

    Introduced into:

    Gulf States

    Cenchrus gracillimus Nash appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    Nash, G.V. [288], Florida K001056121 Unknown type material

    First published in Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 22: 300 (1895)

    Accepted by

    • Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.
    • Clayton, W.D., Harman, K.T. & Williamson, H. (2006). World Grass Species - Synonymy database The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
    • Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2003). Flora of North America North of Mexico 25: 1-781. Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford.
    • Jongbloed, M., Western, R.A. & Boer, B. (2000). Annotated Check-list for plants in the U.A.E.: 1-90. Zodiac Publishing, Dubai.

    Literature

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    • Acevedo-Rodríguez, P. & Strong, M.T. (2012). Catalogue of seed plants of the West Indies Smithsonian Contributions to Botany 98: 1-1192.
    • Flora of North America Editorial Committee (2003). Flora of North America North of Mexico 25: 1-781. Oxford University Press, New York, Oxford.
    • Jongbloed, M., Western, R.A. & Boer, B. (2000). Annotated Check-list for plants in the U.A.E.: 1-90. Zodiac Publishing, Dubai.
    • Correll, D.S. & Correll, H.B. (1982). Flora of the Bahama Archipelago: 1-1692. J.Cramer, Vaduz.

    Sources

    GrassBase - The Online World Grass Flora
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
    'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2019. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2019. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0