Oryzopsis asperifolia

Vegetative Morphology
Plants	perennial; cespitose, not rhizomatous.
Culms	25-65 cm, erect or spreading.
Basal branching	extravaginal.
Prophylls	not visible.
Nodes	glabrous.
Sheaths	not concealing cleistogenes.
Basal leaves	30-90 cm, remaining green over winter.
Auricles	absent.
Ligules	membranous, longest at the sides or rounded, ciliate.
Blades of basal leaves	erect when young, recumbent in the fall, bases twisted, placing the abaxial surfaces uppermost, cauline leaf blades reduced.
Blades of flag leaves	shorter, 2-12 mm, conspicuously narrower than the top of the sheath.
Reproductive Morphology
Inflorescences	panicles, contracted.
Spikelets	5-7.5 mm, with 1 floret.
Rachillas	not prolonged beyond the base of the floret.
Disarticulation	above the glumes, beneath the floret.
Glumes	subequal, 6-10-veined, apices mucronate.
Florets	terete to laterally compressed.
Calluses	usually less than 1/5 the length of the florets, blunt, distal portions pilose.
Lemmas	coriaceous, pubescent at least basally, 3-5(9)-veined, margins strongly overlapping at maturity, awned, lemma-awn junction conspicuous, lobes 0.1-0.2 mm.
Awns	more or less straight, deciduous.
Paleas	similar to the lemmas in length, texture, and pubescence, concealed by the lemmas, 2-veined, flat between the veins.
Lodicules	2, free, membranous, 2-veined.
Anthers	3.
Styles	1, with 2 branches.
Ovaries	glabrous.
Caryopses	falling with the lemma and palea.

Species Distribution Maps

Chromosome Number(s)

x = 11, 12

Name from the Greek oryza, 'rice', and opsis, 'appearance', in reference to a supposed resemblance to rice.

Oryzopsis is treated here as a monospecific genus that is restricted to North America.

Oryzopsis Michx., Fl. bor.-amer. 1:51 (1803). TYPE: Oryzopsis asperifoliaMichx.

M.E. Barkworth. Oryzopsis in Flora of North America, volume 24. In prep. Oxford University Press.