Chloris virgata Sw.

Chloris virgata Sw. Fl. Ind. Occ. 203. 1797
Chloris pubescens Lag. Var. Ci. 4: 143. 1805. (Type from Peru.)
Rahdochloa virgata Beauv. Agrost. 84, 158, 176. 1812. (Presumably based on Chloris rirgala Sw.)
Chloris compressa DC. Cat. PI. Hort. Monsp. 94. 1813. (Type cultivated at Montpellier.)
Chloris elegans H.B.K. Nov. Gen. & Sp. 1: 166. 1816. (Type from Mexico. Humboldt fBonpland.)
Chloris alba Presl, Rel. Haenk. 1: 289. 1830. (Type from Mexico, Haenke.)
Chloris penicillata Willd.; Stcud. Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 1: 353, as synonym of C. elegans H.B.K. 1840.
Chloris alba var. aristulala Torr. Pacific R. R. Rep. 4: 155. 1857. (Localities cited, banks of the
upper Rio Grande [Emory Exped.]; Texas, Drummond 395.) Agrostomia barbala Cerv. Naturaleza 1: 346. 1870. (Type from Cuernavaca, Mexico.)
Annual; culms erect, or usually decumbent at the base, sometimes rooting at the lower nodes, 10 cm. to more than a meter tall; sheaths compressed-keeled, glabrous, mostly longer than the intemodes; ligule very short, minutely ciliate; blades flat, 4-25 cm. long, 3-7 mm. wide, scaberulous or nearly smooth on both surfaces, sometimes more or less papillose-pilose on the upper surface near the base, the margins scabrous; spikes 3-15 (usually about 6), 3-9 cm. (usually 5-6 cm.) long, erect or narrowly ascending, flexuous, crowded in a rather dense silvery head; spikelets 3-3.5 mm. long; glumes acuminate, l-nerved, scabrous on the keel, the first 1.5-2.5 mm. long, the second 2.5-3 mm. long, with an awn about 1 mm. long; fertile floret 3-3.5 mm. long, the callus bearded, the lemma acute, the keel bowed out at the middle, short-ciliate on the margins on the lower part, long-ciliate on the upper third, the hairs as much as 4 mm. long, the awn rather stout, 6-10 mm. long, scabrous; rudiment 2-2.5 mm. long, about 0.7 mm. wide, subacute, the awn 5-7 mm. long.
Typb locality: Antigua (Swariz).
Distribution: A weed in fields and waste places, central and southwestern United States, Mexico, and the West Indies; also in South America and the Old World.