Sporobolus pyramidatus (Lam.),
Whorled Dropseed

Habit: 		Perennial, in spreading or prostrate tufts.
Culms: 		10-40 cm. tall, erect or decumbent at the base, branching.
Blades: 	Crowded at the base, mostly less than 10 cm. long, 2-4 mm. wide, often sparingly
		hairy at the base, the white margins scabrous.
Sheaths: 	Shorter than the internodes, pilose at the throat.
Ligule: 	A ring of hairs less than 1 mm. long.
Inflorescence: 	Panicle pale, exserted, narrowly pyramidal, 3-7 cm. long or rarely longer,
		the branches verticillate, spreading, 1-3 cm. long, somewhat viscid, closely
		spikelet-bearing on the upper two thirds.
Spikelets: 	1-1.5 mm. long, 1-flowered, awnless, lead colored, shining, rachilla
		disarticulating above the glumes.
Glumes: 	First obtuse, about 0.4 mm. long, the second acute, as long as the lemma and palea.
Lemmas: 	About as long as the second glume, acute, 1-nerved.
Palea: 		2-nerved, about equaling the lemma, acute.
Fruit: 		Grain free from the lemma and readily dropping off, pericarp loosely
		enclosing the seed, often thin and evanescent.
Habitat: 	Sandy or gravelly soils, alkaline areas.  April-October.
Kansas Range:	South central.