Sporobolus asper var. clandestinus (Spreng.),
Dropseed


Habit: 		Tufted perennial.
Culms: 		50-100 cm. tall, erect, leafy, slender to stout, tufted, often scabrous below the nodes.
Blades: 	Lower 7-30 cm. long or more, 2-4 mm. wide, with scabrous margins and filiform involute
		tip, 2.5 cm. long or less, 1-3 mm. wide, hirsute near the base.
Sheaths: 	Shorter than the internodes, the lower sometimes pilose and papilose.
Ligule: 	A mere ring, less than 0.5 mm. long.
Inflorescence: 	Panicle narrow, contracted, 5-12 cm. long, often included in the uppermost sheath.
Spikelets: 	5-7 mm. long, 1-flowered.
Glumes: 	Keeled, acuminate, first half as long as the lemma, the second four thirds as long.
Lemmas: 	Acuminate, usually longer than the second glume, 1-nerved, appressed pubescent
		towards the base.
Palea: 		Acuminate, usually longer than the lemma, sometimes up to 10 mm. long,
		appressed-pubescent towards the base.
Fruit: 		Grain free from the lemma and readily dropping off, pericarp loosely enclosing the seed.
Habitat: 	Sandy fields, hills, and prairies.  August-September.
Kansas Range:	Northeast fourth.