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• True grasses
• Pappophorum vaginatum

Pappophorum vaginatum — whiplash pappusgrass

Facts

Whiplash pappusgrass is a rare visitor to New England, having been collected only from the waste area of a nineteenth century wool carding factory in Maine.

Habitat

Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats)

Characteristics

• Flowers

  Anther number

  3

  Awn on glume

  the glume has no awn

  Floret lower bract texture

  the lemma is thin and flexible

  Glume relative length

  • both glumes are as long or longer than all of the florets
  • neither glume is quite as long as all of the florets

  Glume veins

  1

  Inflorescence axis orientation

  the inflorescence axis is straight

  Inflorescence branches

  • the flowers are attached to branches rather than to the main axis of the inflorescence
  • there are no branch points between the base of the inflorescence axis and the flowers, or they are not obvious

  Inflorescence length

  10–25 mm

  Inflorescence type (general)

  • the inflorescence is a spike, or is spike-like, lacking obvious branches
  • the spikelets are borne on stalks or on branches

  Inflorescence type (specific)

  the inflorescence is branched, and the branches do NOT both grow from the same side of the plant AND look like spikes

  Lemma awn base

  the awn is attached right at the tip of the lemma

  Lemma awn length

  Up to 5 mm

  Lemma awn number

  the lemma has more than one awn on it

  Lemma awn orientation

  the awn of the lemma on dried or older plants is curved or bent outwards

  Lemma cross-section

  the lemma is flat or rounded if you cut across the midpoint

  Lemma surface

  the surface of the lemma is relatively smooth (not counting any longitudinal veins or hairs)

  Lemma tip

  the lemma tip is split into two or more points

  Lemma vein number

  7 or more

  One or more florets

  there is more than one floret per spikelet

  Palea relative length

  • palea is longer than lemma
  • palea is one half to fully as long as lemma

  Spikelet axis tip

  there is no extension of the spikelet axis beyond the tip of the spikelet

  Spikelet length

  6–8 mm

  Spikelets spiny

  the spikelets do not appear spiny

• Leaves

  Leaf blade width

  1.5–5 mm

  Leaf ligule type

  the leaf ligule is in the form of fine hairs

  Leaf sheath closed around stem

  the margins of the leaf sheath are overlapping and not fused together except in the basal half (or less)

  Leaf sheath hairs

  • there are hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath
  • there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath

• Place

  Habitat

  terrestrial

  New England state

  Maine

  Specific habitat

  man-made or disturbed habitats

• Stem, shoot, branch

  Stem spacing

  the stems grow close together in compact clusters or tufts

Wetland status

Not classified

New England distribution and conservation status

From the dichotomous key of Flora Novae Angliae