Sporobolus

Plant Characteristics

Habit		grass
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial, annual

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Poaceae >

Sporobolus >

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Sporobolus is a genus of grasses in the family Poaceae. They are usually called dropseed grasses or sacaton grasses. They are typical prairie and savanna plants, but occur in other open habitat in warmer climates also.

While some dropseed grasses make nice gardening plants, they are generally considered to make inferior pastures as evidenced by names like "poverty grass" or Smutgrass. On the other hand, seeds of at least some species are edible and nutritious; they were used as food for example by the Chiricahua Apaches. Other species are reported to be used as famine foods, such as Sporobolus indicus (Oromiffa Muriy) in parts of the Oromia Region of Ethiopia.

Read about Sporobolus in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Sporobolus (Greek, spora, seed, and ballein, to cast forth, referring to the grain readily falling from the spikelet). Gramineae. Dropseed. Spikelets 1-fld., awnless, usually small, in narrow or open panicles.—About 80 species, chiefly of Temp. and Trop. Amer., of little value. S. cryptandrus, Gray, a widely distributed annual, is considered a good forage grass; S. Wrightianus, Munro, Sacaton, of the alkali lands of the S. W. and of Mex., and S. airoides, Torr., an allied species, furnish pasture in alkali flats. S. minutiflorus, Link, a slender annual with minute spikelets in a delicate panicle, is offered as an ornamental by some seedsmen under the name of Agrostis minutiflora. The species are little known horticulturally. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

Species

Selected species:

Sporobolus fertilis "Giant Parramatta Grass"

Madagascar Dropseed, Sporobolus pyramidatus

• Sporobolus actinocladus (F.Muell.) F.Muell.
• Sporobolus africanus
• Sporobolus airoides (Torr.) Torr. – Alkali Sacaton
• Sporobolus argutas Kunth
• Sporobolus caespitosus Kunth
• Sporobolus compositus (= S. asper) – Tall Dropseed, Meadow Dropseed, Rough Dropseed
• Sporobolus cryptandrus – Sand Dropseed
• Sporobolus cubensis
• Sporobolus domingensis
• Sporobolus durus Brongn. (extinct)
• Sporobolus elongatus R.Br.
• Sporobolus fertilis
• Sporobolus flexuosus – Mesa Dropseed
• Sporobolus fourcadei Stent
• Sporobolus heterolepis – Prairie Dropseed, Northern Dropseed
• Sporobolus indicus (L.) R.Br. – Smutgrass, "wiregrass"
  • Sporobolus indicus var. flaccidus (= Sporobolus diander)
• Sporobolus jacquemontii Kunth (= S. pyramidalis P.Beauv.) – Giant Rat's-tail Grass
• Sporobolus marginatus
• Sporobolus neglectus – Small Dropseed
• Sporobolus rigens (Tr.) Desv.
• Sporobolus pulchellus R.Br.
• Sporobolus pyramidatus (Lam.) A.S.Hitchc. – Madagascar Dropseed
• Sporobolus tenuissimus
• Sporobolus vaginaeflorus (Torr.) Wood (or S. vaginiflorus) – Sheathed Dropseed, "poverty grass"
• Sporobolus virginicus (L.) Kunth.
• Sporobolus wrightii Munro ex Scribn.

Gallery

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External links

• w:Sporobolus. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Sporobolus QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)