NC, Smokies, 20060530
CabinCove, road, grasses.
Grasses along driveway up to but not including field.
Anthoxanthum odoratum
On left side above Mitchell's Wall Cut-off; in full fl.
| | GEN | | peren (dead lvs present at base), tall (6+dm), decumb at v bot but otherwise erect, 1 st |
| | LF | | short and mostly near bot except one tiny one at mid-height, flat, 40x5mm, pubesc both sides of blade, sheath glab, sheath open |
| | INFL | | sh d pan, 50x10mm, spklts spread 30deg |
| | SPKLT | | 1 fert fl ab 2 ster fls, 9x1mm, terete| low gl | | 3.3mm, cup-like, 1 vein, scar but for green midv, glab, acutish |
| up gl | | 6.5mm, 3 veins, alt dots down either sides of veins like sewing machine stitch, coarse scab on midv, broad scar min puber marg that enfolds innards (overlapping in back), keeled ab |
| low ster fl | | | lem | | awned from sl ab mid, 5mm total, awn 3.5mm, scar, d ascend straw pubesc, awn straw & scaber & straight, 1 vein |
|
| up ster fl | | | lem | | all awn, ~6mm, 3mm dk red-brown & twisted, 3mm straw & scaber |
| pal | | 3mm, 2 veins, scar, d ascend straw pubesc |
|
| fert fl | | | lem | | 2mm, green, scar, 1 vein?, enfolding pal, glab? |
|
|
Carex lurida
On right side fairly low down after crossing culvert?; in full fl, can't find any nutlets yet.
| | LF | | not at all reduced ab, all spread 90deg, rather V-shaped at least in middle (with flat marg), 4mm wide, long |
| | INFL | | 2 fat oblong-cylindric pist spikes 18x15mm w many fls, 1 long narr lin stam spike at top about 20x1mm |
| | STAM FL | | | bract | | 11x1mm, keeled, marg scar white, awn top ~6mm & scaber |
|
| | PIST FL | | | perig | | 8-9x3mm, smooth, many clear veins, lt green, acum base, widest at 30%, beak top ~4mm, somewhat inflated? (or fr not developed yet)| bract | | 4x0.5mm, v narr lance-lin, scaber marg ab, marg scar white |
|
|
Carex rosea
On right side somewhat below Mary-Wanda; past fl (stam fls all gone!).
| | LF | | all near base, 1mm wide, as tall as infl |
| | INFL | | series of small few-fl'd sess spikes at top of culm, some odd wispy brs diverging from base of all the lower spikes, 3-4 spikes, perigynia strongly spreading to reflexed, pist bract ~1.5mm & white to brownish scar w green midv & short aristate to acum & glab |
| | PERIG | | ~3x1mm, obov, lenticular, strongly winged marg, wings sharply min ret serr near tip, glab and smooth lt green mostly |
| | STYLE | | 2, jointed to top of fr |
| | FR | | ellip, smooth, lt green, lencticular, no beak, 1.8x0.8mm |
Carex virescens
On right side somewhat below Mary-Wanda; past full fl, some frs fairly mature.
| | LF | | long, 3mm wide, flat, not reduced ab |
| | INFL | | 2 spikes w top one half pistilate ab half staminate, pist part 8x3mm, stam part 8x2mm or narrower, all spikes erect, stam bract 3.8-3mm (basal margins not joined), pist bract 2.2mm (base not sheathing), bracts obov but aristate, awn about 1mm, bracts white scar w green midvein & glab |
| | PERIG | | 2mm, d pubesc, loose and flabby, acutish both ends and widest in middle but no beak, veins prom |
| | STYLE | | 3 brs, jointed to beak on fr |
| | FR | | sharply 3-angled, glab, obov, 1.7x0.8mm, beak 0.6mm |
Dactylis glomerata
Starting to fl; scattered all along road in shade.
| | GEN | | v tall, gen only 1 st, sl bluish cast |
| | LF | | flat w prom midv, midv ant scab bel, sheath open 50% |
| | INFL | | distinctive d irregularly clustered secund clusters in an open pan |
| | SPKLT | | 7x3x1mm, lat comp, 3 fls| gls | | 4.5mm and 6mm, v keeled, 1 vein, lower entirely scar, upper long ascend to spread clear bristly and min cil at least near the tip |
| lem | | 7mm, 1mm scaber awn, v keeled, scar marg, long bristly on keel and shor cil esp near tip |
| pal | | 2mm or more shorter than lem, 2 veins, veins v keeled, veins puber, scar in-folded marg |
|
Glyceria striata
Not yet really in fl; before road forks.
| | LF | | flat, ant scaber ab, ~5mm wide, long and rel close together all the way up st, sheath 80% open |
| | INFL | | closed pan probably opening wh in more full fl, 100mm tall, 1 spklt per node, few 1-brs per node, brs min scaber, brs v thin and flexible |
| | SPKLT | | 3-4 fls, 3x1mm, ellip, sl lat comp, fls ascend| gls | | 0.7mm and 0.9mm, 1 vein, scar marg, acute, keeled, glab, sp scaber on keel |
| lem | | 1.9mm, 7 raised veins, obtuse to erose, fully glab, no beard |
| pal | | nearly eq to lem, 2 veins, etc |
|
Easy to key out in hindsight, but going forward I had to exhaust
Poa and
Festuca first.
Poa trivialis
In full fl, lower half of road;
| | GEN | | ann (v min root sys), sev sts |
| | LF | | prow-tip, flat, sheath 75% open, all glab except maybe v min ant scaber top side of blade, 4.5mm wide |
| | LIG | | 2-4mm (up to 5mm in one!), entire and rounded to erose, scar |
| | INFL | | open pan, 1-brs spread 70-80deg, 1 spklt per node, brs min scaber esp near ends, 150x70mm, ovoid, 5-6 1-brs per node |
| | SPKLT | | 2 fls, ster fl ab fert fl, about 2mm long| gls | | low 2mm, up 2.6mm, low 1 vein, up 3 vein, acute, wide scar marg, scaber keel |
| fert lem | | 2.5mm, 5 veins, scar marg, acute, cobwebby at base and along bot part of keel, lat veins glab |
| pal | | 2.2mm, 2 vein, glab, acute |
| ster lem | | 1.6mm, wider ob middle, scar bel mid, glab, acutish |
|
Keys to the rare
P. trivialis in
RA&B. However it fails in a few respects: lemmas a bit too short (2.4-2.5mm vs 2.8-3.2mm), lvs essentially glab. Best alternative I can come up with is
P. pratensis, which has sufficient variation to come pretty darned close. It does, I confess, fail to match in many details: ligs entire and way too long, lat veins of lemma are glabrous, infl brs are scaberulous, too many primary brs per node in infl, and lastly I can't find any spklts with more than 2 fls, which seems odd if it can reach up to 8. Oh, neither species are annual! Arg.
< 20060529 | home | index | 20060531 >
