Coral Dropseed

Sporobolus domingensis (Trin.) Kunth, Rev. Gram. Suppl
xvii. 1830.
Vilfa domingensis Trin. in Spreng. Neu. Entd. 2: 59. 1821.
Agrostis domingensis Schultes, in R. & S. Syst. Veg. Mant. 3: Addit. 570. 1827. (Based on Vilfa
domingensis Trin.) Sporobolus inordinalus Mez, Repert. Sp. Nov. 17: 294. 1921. (Type from Cuba.)
Perennial; culm cespitose, erect, glabrous, 3-5-noded, 50-100 cm. tall; sheaths glabrous, pilose at the throat; ligule densely ciliate, 1-1.5 mm. long; blades flat, attenuate-pointed, scabrous on the upper surface, very scabrous on the margins, glabrous beneath, elongate, 3-6 mm. wide; panicles narrow, mostly 10-15 cm. long, rather dense, the branches ascending or appressed, overlapping, irregularly arranged on the axis or the lower more or less in verticils; spikelets about 2 mm. long, densely clustered on the short appressed branchlets; first glume half as long as the spikelet.
Type locality: Santo Domingo.
Distribution: Coral sand and rocks along the coast, southern Florida and the West Indies; Yucatan.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascen ding, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wid e, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 1 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 2, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.