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- True grasses
- Chloris cucullata
Chloris cucullata — hooded windmill-grass
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Facts
Native to the southern United States and northern Mexico, hooded windmill-grass is a rare visitor to New England, having been collected only from the waste areas of nineteenth-century wool-carding factories in Maine.
Habitat
Anthropogenic (man-made or disturbed habitats)
New England distribution
Adapted from BONAP data
Native: indigenous.
Non-native: introduced (intentionally or unintentionally); has become naturalized.
County documented: documented to exist in the county by evidence (herbarium specimen, photograph). Also covers those considered historical (not seen in 20 years).
State documented: documented to exist in the state, but not documented to a county within the state. Also covers those considered historical (not seen in 20 years).
Note: when native and non-native populations both exist in a county, only native status is shown on the map.
Found this plant? Take a photo and post a sighting.
Characteristics
- Habitat
- terrestrial
- New England state
- Maine
- Leaf blade width
- 2–4 mm
- Inflorescence branches
- the flowers are attached to branches rather than to the main axis of the inflorescence
- Spikelet length
- 1.5–2 mm
- Glume relative length
- neither glume is quite as long as all of the florets
- Awn on glume
- the glume has no awn
- One or more florets
- there is more than one floret per spikelet
- Lemma awn length
- 0–1.5 mm
- Leaf sheath hair type
- there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath
- Leaf ligule length
- 0.7–1 mm
-
Flowers
- Anther number
- 3
- Awn on glume
- the glume has no awn
- Floret lower bract texture
- the lemma is thin and flexible
- Floret number
- 1–2
- Glume relative length
- neither glume is quite as long as all of the florets
- Glume veins
-
- 1
- 3
- Inflorescence arrangement
- the spikelets are uniform
- Inflorescence axis orientation
-
- the inflorescence axis is arched or curved outward
- the inflorescence axis is straight
- Inflorescence branches
- the flowers are attached to branches rather than to the main axis of the inflorescence
- Inflorescence length
- Up to 50 mm
- Inflorescence type (general)
- the spikelets are borne on stalks or on branches
- Inflorescence type (specific)
- the inflorescence is branched and the branches all 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
- 0–1.5 mm
- Lemma awn number
-
- the lemma has no awn
- the lemma has one awn on it
- Lemma base hairs
- the lemma has hairs at the base
- Lemma cross-section
- the lemma is V-shaped if you cut across the midpoint
- Lemma marginal vein hairs
- the marginal vein of the lemma has fine hairs on it
- Lemma surface
- the surface of the lemma is relatively smooth (not counting any longitudinal veins or hairs)
- Lemma vein number
-
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7 or more
- One or more florets
- there is more than one floret per spikelet
- Palea relative length
- 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
- 1.5–2 mm
- Spikelets spiny
- the spikelets do not appear spiny
- Upper glume length
- 1–1.5 mm
-
Growth form
- Lifespan
- the plant lives more than two years
-
Leaves
- Leaf auricles
- the leaves do not have auricles
- Leaf blade width
- 2–4 mm
- Leaf ligule length
- 0.7–1 mm
- Leaf ligule type
- the leaf ligule is in the form of a membrane with fine hairs
- Leaf sheath hair type
- there are no hairs on the surface of the leaf sheath
- Leaf sheath hairs
- 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
In New England
Distribution
- Connecticut
- absent
- Maine
- present
- Massachusetts
- absent
- New Hampshire
- absent
- Rhode Island
- absent
- Vermont
- absent
Conservation status
None
From Flora Novae Angliae dichotomous key
1. Chloris cucullata Bisch. E
hooded windmill-grass. ME. On wool waste.
Native to North America?
Yes and no (some introduced)
Sometimes confused with
- Chloris verticillata:
- upper glumes 2.8-3.5 mm long and panicle branches arranged in well-separate whorls with a terminal, solitary, erect branch (vs. C. cucullata, with upper glumes 1-1.5 mm long and panicle branches arranged in several, closely spaced whorls).