Schizachne purpurascens

Schizachne is a monotypic genus of herbaceous plants belonging to the Poaceae family. Its only species, Schizachne purpurascens, is native to of Eurasia and North America.

Description

They are perennial plants; tussocks (with short rhizomes) With culms 30-100 cm tall; herbaceous; not branched above. Culms with glabrous nodes. Internodes hollow, basal leaves not aggregated; not earphones. Pod margins united. linear blades; narrow; 1-4 mm wide; flat or rolled; without venation. The ligule is a ciliated membrane; truncated (on back); 0.5-3mm long. Bisexual plants, with bisexual spikelets; with hermaphrodite flowers.

Taxonomy

Schizachne purpurascens was described by (Torr.) Swallen and published in the Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences 18: 204. 1928.

Etymology

The name of the genus derives from the Greek words schizein (to divide) and achne (straw), alluding to its forked lemmas.

Varieties

• Schizachne purpurascens subsp. callous (Turcz. ex Griseb.) T.Koyama & Kawano
• Schizachne purpurascens subsp. capillaries (Kom) Tzvelev

Sinonimia

• Avena striata Michx.
• Avena striata f. albicans Fernald
• Avena torreyi Nash
• Bromelica striata (Hitchc.) Farw.
• Melica purpurascens Hitchc.
• Melica striata Hitchc.
• Melica striata f. albicans (Fernald) Fernald
• Schizachne striata (Hitchc.) Hultén
• Trisetum purpurascens Torr.