Urochloa texana* (Buckl.) R.D.
Webster. Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland
81: 7 (1969).
Classification. (GPWG 2001) : Subfamily
Panicoideae. Paniceae.
Basionym and/or
Replacement Name: Panicum texanum
Buckley, Prelim. Rep. Surv. Texas
3 (1866).
Type of Basionym or
Protologue Information: HT: S.B. Buckley s.n., USA: Texas:
Travis Co.: Austin
(PH; IT: US-81144 (fragm. ex PH)).
Recent synonyms:
Brachiaria texana.
Key references
(books and floras): [2002] D.Sharp & B.K.Simon, AusGrass, Grasses of
Australia
(as Brachiaria), [2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Walley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses
of New South Wales (397).
Illustrations:
[2008] S.W.L.Jacobs, R.D.B.Whalley & D.J.B.Wheeler, Grasses of New South
Wales, 4th edn (396).
Habit. Annual.
Culms geniculately ascending or decumbent, 40–120 cm tall. Mid-culm internodes
glabrous or pubescent. Mid-culm nodes pubescent. Leaf-sheaths hairy. Ligule a
fringed membrane, a ciliate membrane, 1–1.5 mm long. Leaf-blades lanceolate,
flat or conduplicate, 8–20 cm long, 7–20 mm wide. Leaf-blade surface
indumented.
Inflorescence.
Inflorescence compound, a panicle of racemes. Racemes 3–10, 3–8 cm long, 3–4 mm
wide. Central inflorescence axis 7–24 cm long.
Spikelets.
Spikelets pedicelled. Fertile spikelets 2-flowered, the lower floret barren
(rarely male), the upper fertile, comprising 1 basal sterile florets,
comprising 1 fertile floret(s), without rachilla extension, elliptic, dorsally
compressed, 4.7–6 mm long. Rhachilla internodes brief up to lowest fertile
floret.
Glumes. Glumes
dissimilar, thinner than fertile lemma. Lower glume ovate, membranous, without
keels, 5–7 -nerved. Upper glume elliptic, 4.7–5.2 mm long, membranous, without
keels, 5–7 -nerved. Upper glume surface indumented. Upper glume apex mucronate.
Florets. Basal sterile florets 1, male, with palea. Lemma of lower
sterile floret 100 % of length of spikelet, membranous, 5 -nerved.
Fertile lemma 3.5–4.1
mm long, without keel. Lemma apex mucronate. Palea without keels.
Continental
Distribution: Australasia and North America.
Australian
Distribution: Queensland, New South Wales.
Queensland:
Darling Downs, Moreton. New
South Wales: North
Coast, Central-Western
Slopes, North-Western Plains.
Notes.
Introduced. Native to Texas and northern Mexico but now
widely introduced. In tropical and subtropical wet sclerophyll forests, dry
sclerophyll forests, temperate sub-humid woodlands, and semi-arid shrub
woodlands. A weedy species commonly associated with moist ditches, margins of
cultivated fields, and in other disturbed areas. Flowers Jan.-Aug.
