Saccharum brevibarbe var. contortum

Upper lemmas of sessile spikelets initially entire, becoming bifid at maturity, teeth about 2 mm; awns 10-18 mm, spirally coiled basally.

Saccharum brevibarbe var. contortum grows in moist, sandy pinelands and open ground of the coastal plain, from Maryland to Florida and inland to Tennessee and Oklahoma. Initially, the awns in var. contortum are not coiled and the lemmas are entire but, as the spirals develop, they tear the lemmas, creating the bifid apices.

Culms 1-2 m, glabrous below the panicle; blades 10-15 mm wide, pilose only at base; panicle narrow, 2-3 dm, brown or purple, its axis and branches sparsely long-villous; spikelets ca 8 mm, sparsely long-villous, about equaling the pale or white subtending hairs; awn 15-20 mm, flattened, spirally twisted below. Moist soil and waste ground, mostly on the coastal plain; Md. to Fla. and Tex., thence n. to Tenn. and Ark. (Saccharum brevibarbe var c.)

Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.

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