Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Andropogon ternarius Michx.
- Family: Grass (Gramineae)
- Flowering: July-October
- Field Marks: The sterile spikelet of the pair is absent, represented only by the stalk which is shorter than the sessile spikelet. The rachis and sterile stalk are covered by silvery hairs.
- Habitat: Woods, fields, roadsides.
- Habit: Tufted perennial grass from rhizomes.
- Stems: Upright, smooth, to 4 feet tall, branched above.
- Leaves: Elongated, ascending, usually with appressed hairs, up to 1/3 inch wide.
- Flowers: Borne in 2-3 erect, spike-like racemes, the racemes up to 2 inches long, silvery.
- Spikelets: In pairs, the stalked one reduced to a silvery-hairy stalk, the sessile one with male and female flowers, 1/4-1/3 inch long, hidden by dense silvery hairs, the spiral awn up to 1 inch long.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Grains ellipsoid, smooth.
- Notes: This family is Poaceae according to Gleason and Cronquist.
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