''Chloris virgata'' is a species of

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

known by the common names feather fingergrass feathery Rhodes-grass and feather windmillgrass.

Distribution

It is native to many of the warmer temperate,

subtropical The subtropical zones or subtropics are geographical zone, geographical and Köppen climate classification, climate zones to the Northern Hemisphere, north and Southern Hemisphere, south of the tropics. Geographically part of the Geographical z ...

, and

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

regions of the world, including parts of Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas, and it is present in many other areas as a

naturalized species Naturalisation (or naturalization) is the ecological phenomenon through which a species, taxon, or population of exotic (as opposed to native) origin integrates into a given ecosystem, becoming capable of reproducing and growing in it, and procee ...

, including

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, and the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

. ''Chloris virgata'' is a hardy grass which can grow in many types of habitat, including disturbed areas such as roadsides and

railroad tracks A railway track (British English and UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties (sleepers, ...

, and cultivated farmland. It is known in some areas as a weed, for example, in

alfalfa Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, and silage, as w ...

fields in the southwestern United States.Grass Manual Treatment

Description

This is an annual grass growing up to about half a meter in maximum height. It sometimes forms tufts, and may or may not spread via

stolon In biology, stolons (from Latin '' stolō'', genitive ''stolōnis'' – "branch"), also known as runners, are horizontal connections between organisms. They may be part of the organism, or of its skeleton; typically, animal stolons are external s ...

s. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is an array of 4 to 20 fingerlike branches up to 10 centimeters long. Each branch contains approximately 10 spikelets per centimeter. Each spikelet has one fertile floret and one or two sterile florets.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Chloris virgata''''Chloris virgata'' - Photo gallery
* virgata Native grasses of California Native grasses of Texas Grasses of Alabama Grasses of Argentina Grasses of Mexico Grasses of the United States Flora of the Southwestern United States Flora of the Southeastern United States Flora of the California desert regions Flora of the Sonoran Deserts Flora of Argentina Flora of South America Plants described in 1797 Taxa named by Olof Swartz Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Chloridoideae-stub