Sporobolus cryptandrus (Torr.). Sand Dropseed Habit: Perennial, usually in rather small tufts. Culms: 40-100 cm. tall, erect, or spreading, sometimes prostrate, glabrous simple or branching below. Blades: 6-15 cm. long, 2-5 mm. wide, flat, more or less involute in drying, tapering to a fine point, glabrous beneath, scabrous above. Sheaths: Lower shorter than the internodes, the upper much longer, enclosing the base of the panicle, margins long-ciliate towards the top, with conspicuous tufts of white hairs at the collar. Ligule: A ring of very short hairs. Inflorescence: Panicles terminal and axillary lead-colored or purplish, the well-developed panicles open, 12-20 cm. long, included at base in the upper sheath, or sometimes contracted and wholly included, the branches slender scattered, up to 8 cm. long, bearing short-pediceled spikelets crowded along the outer part of the main branchlets. Spikelets: Pale, purplish or lead-colored, 2-2.5 mm. long, 1-flowered, awnless, rachilla disarticulating above the glumes. Glumes: Scabrous on the keel, first glume one third to one half as long as the second, which is broader and nearly equal to the lemma. Lemmas: Usually longer than the second glume, 1-nerved, acute. Palea: 2-nerved, acute, about equaling or a little shorter than the lemma. Fruit: Grain free from the lemma and readily dropping off. Habitat: Sandy open soil. August-October.Kansas Range: Throughout. Use: Forage Remarks: An abundant element of sand prairies. Synonyms: Sporobolus cryptandrus (Torr.) Gray ssp. fuscicola (Hook.) E.K. Jones & Fassett Sporobolus cryptandrus (Torr.) Gray var. fuscicola (Hook.) Pohl Sporobolus cryptandrus (Torr.) Gray var. occidentalis E.K. Jones & Fassett