Chloris texensis

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Chloris texensis
Status TNC G2.svg
Imperiled  (NatureServe)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Monocots
(unranked): Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Chloridoideae
Genus: Chloris
Species:C. texensis
Binomial name
Chloris texensis
Nash

Chloris texensis is a species of grass known by the common name Texas windmill grass. It is endemic to Texas in the United States, where it occurs on the coastal prairies. [1]

Poaceae family of plants

Poaceae or Gramineae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants known as grasses, commonly referred to collectively as grass. Poaceae includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and cultivated lawns and pasture. Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath. With around 780 genera and around 12,000 species, Poaceae are the fifth-largest plant family, following the Asteraceae, Orchidaceae, Fabaceae and Rubiaceae.

Endemism ecological state of being unique to a defined geographic location or habitat

Endemism is the ecological state of a species being unique to a defined geographic location, such as an island, nation, country or other defined zone, or habitat type; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsewhere. The extreme opposite of endemism is cosmopolitan distribution. An alternative term for a species that is endemic is precinctive, which applies to species that are restricted to a defined geographical area.

Texas State of the United States of America

Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Geographically located in the South Central region of the country, Texas shares borders with the U.S. states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the southwest, while the Gulf of Mexico is to the southeast.

This perennial grass forms clumps of stems up to 30 to 45 centimeters tall. The leaf blades are up to 15 centimeters long. The inflorescence is a panicle with several long, spreading branches arranged in a whorl. Each branch is up to 20 centimeters long and has 3 to 4 spikelets per centimeter along the distal part. [2] Flowering occurs in October and November. [3]

Inflorescence term used in botany

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. The modifications can involve the length and the nature of the internodes and the phyllotaxis, as well as variations in the proportions, compressions, swellings, adnations, connations and reduction of main and secondary axes. Inflorescence can also be defined as the reproductive portion of a plant that bears a cluster of flowers in a specific pattern.

Panicle type of inflorescence

A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike, by requiring that the flowers be pedicellate. The branches of a panicle are often racemes. A panicle may have determinate or indeterminate growth.

This plant grows on sparsely vegetated stretches of coastal prairie, often at mima mounds. Other plants located around these mounds include Hymenoxys texana , Thurovia triflora , and Rayjacksonia aurea . [3] It may also be associated with the rare Machaeranthera aurea . [1]

<i>Hymenoxys texana</i> species of plant

Hymenoxys texana is a rare species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names prairie dawn, Texas prairie dawn-flower, and Texas bitterweed. It is endemic to Texas, where it is known only from the general vicinity of Houston. It is threatened by the loss of its habitat. It is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.

Rayjacksonia aurea is a species of flowering plant in the aster family known by the common names Houston tansyaster and Houston camphor daisy. It is endemic to Texas in the United States, where it is known only from the Houston area. It is limited to Galveston and Harris Counties.

This plant is threatened with the loss of its habitat due to development, especially in the Houston area. [1] [3]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Chloris texensis. The Nature Conservancy.
  2. ↑ Chloris texensis. Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine . Grass Manual Treatment.
  3. 1 2 3 Chloris texensis. Archived 2011-10-26 at the Wayback Machine . Center for Plant Conservation.
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