American Fiveminute Grass

Tripogon spicatus (Nees) Ekman, Ark. Bot. 11*: 36. 1912
Bromtts spUalus Nees, Agrost. Bras. 471. 1829. (Type from Piauhy, Brazil.)
Diplachne spicata Doll, in Mart. FI. Bras. 2': 159. 1878. (Based on Bromus spicatus Nees.)
Triodia Schaffneri S. Wats. Proc. Am. Acad. 18: 181. 1883. (Type from San Luis Potosi, Mexico,
Schaffner 1077.) Diplachne Reverchoni Vasey, Bull. Torrey Club 13: 118. 1886. (Type from Llano County, Texas,
Reverchon.) LeptocMoa spicata Scribn, Proc. Acad. Phila. 1891: 304. 1891. (Based on Diplachne spicata Doell.) Sieglingia Schaffneri Kuntze, Rev. Gen. 789. 1891. (Based on Triodia Schaffneri S. Wats.) Rabdochloa spicata Kuntze; Stuck. Anal. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires III. 4: 121. 1904. (Based on
Bromus spicatus Nees.) Sieglingia spicata Kuntze; Stuck. Anal. Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires III. 4: 128. 1904. (Based on
Bromus spicatus Nees.)
Culms 5-25 cm. tall, erect, slender, glabrous; leaves crowded at the base; sheaths compressed, glabrous, villous at the throat; ligule minutely ciliate; blades 2-6 cm. long, soft, involute, glabrous; spike 1-10 cm. long, erect; spikelets overlapping but not crowded, 5-10flowered, mostly 6-8 mm. long; glumes narrow, acute, glabrous, the first 1.5-2.5 mm. long, the second 2-3 mm. long; lemma 2.5-3 mm. long, pilose on the margins at the very base, otherwise glabrous, the awn about 0.5 mm. long.
Type locality: Piauhy. Brazil.
Distribution: Rocky hills and gravelly plains, infrequent, central Texas, central Mexico, and Cuba; also from Brazil to Argentina.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, 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 basal, below middle of stem, 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 very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence racemose, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence single raceme, fascicle or spike, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Rachis dilated, flat, central axis to which spikelets are attached, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets with 8-40 florets, Spikelets solita ry at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets disarticulating beneath or between the florets, Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Spikelets closely appressed or embedded in concave portions of axis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma apex dentate, 2-fid, Lemma awnless, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear .