About Sporobolus hookerianus P.M.Peterson & Saarela
Sporobolus hookerianus P.M.Peterson & Saarela is a perennial grass that grows from elongated, slender rhizomes 3 to 5 millimeters wide. It typically produces solitary, erect, slender culms 1.8 to 10 decimeters tall, with firm internodes and stem bases 2 to 5 millimeters wide. Its leaves are flat and ridged, with leaf blades 15 to 27 centimeters long and 2.5 to 6 millimeters wide at the base. Fresh leaves are often inrolled, and bear approximately five ridges per millimeter on the upper surface. The inflorescence is a narrow, dense, spike-like panicle 4 to 25 centimeters long and 5 to 12 millimeters wide. It has 2 to 12 branches that are usually appressed and overlapping for around half their length, and only rarely separate at the lowest node. Spikelets of this species are 6 to 11 millimeters long. Lemmas are 6.5 to 10 millimeters long, with keels that are ciliate at least near the tip; hairs on the glumes and lemmas are generally 0.3 to 1 millimeter long. The lower glume is 3 to 7 millimeters long, while the upper glume is 5 to 11 millimeters long. Reported chromosome counts for this species are 2n = 40 or 42. Flowering takes place from June to August. This species is native to western North America, ranging from northwestern Canada through the western United States and eastern California, down into central Mexico. It grows in moist alkaline habitats, including evaporating streams, shorelines, alkali flats, and inland marshes.
