Columbia Basin    Human History projects    Natural History Projects Thompson-Okanagan Upper Fraser Basin Peace River Northen Rockies Northwest

GRASSES OF THE COLUMBIA BASIN OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Heather Stewart, Richard Hebda Major Groups of Grasses Table of Contents Glossary Sporobolus There are about 100 species in the Sporobolus genus. It occurs in warm, dry habitats (deserts) in the New and the Old World. The botanical name derives from the Greek spora, for seed, and ballein, meaning to throw, because the seeds often drop or are thrown from their casing.   Sporobolus cryptandrus (Torr.) A. Gray Sand Dropseed Plant: Sporobolus cryptandrus is a native species that grows to 30-70 cm tall. It is a strongly tufted perennial with a somewhat-open flowerhead and spikelets to near the branch base. Leaves and Stem: The stems are solid and strongly grooved. Open sheaths are smooth except along the edges and at the collar (where the sheath meets the blade). Here, a conspicuous ring of white hairs that are 2-3 mm long are attached. The ligules exist as a fringe of hairs 0.5-0.7 mm long. The smooth, inrolled or flat leaf blades are 2-5 mm wide. Flowerhead and Flowers: The stiff upward-pointing branches of the flowerhead have spikelets to near the base and the sheath can often partially enclose the flowerhead. The glumes are sharply pointed and unequal -- the first one is 1 mm long and the second glume is nearly twice as long. The lemma is as long as the second glume or slightly longer. Habitat: Sand Dropseed grows on moderately moist to dry sandy or gravelly sites in the steppe and montane zones. It often occurs with Indian Ricegrass (Stipa hymenoides). In the Columbia Basin, Sand Dropseed occurs at Midway, Grand Forks and Fort Steele. Similar Species: There are four species of Sporobolus in British Columbia, and two of these -- Hairgrass Dropseed (Sporobolus airoides) and Rough Dropseed (Sporobolus asper) -- are Red Listed by the B.C. Conservation Data Centre. Neither of these occur in the Columbia Basin region. Hairgrass Dropseed is more common southward, and Rough Dropseed is found to the south and eastward, and in B.C is known only from Osoyoos and Keremeos.

	Copyright © Royal BC Museum All rights reserved