Allolepis

Allolepis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Poales
Family: Poaceae
Subfamily: Chloridoideae
Tribe: Cynodonteae
Genus: Allolepis
Soderstr. & H.F.Decker
Species:
A. texana
Binomial name
Allolepis texana
Synonyms[1]
  • Poa texana Vasey
  • Sieglingia wrightii Vasey
  • Distichlis texana (Vasey) Scribn.

Allolepis is a genus of North American plants in the grass family.[2][3][4][5]

The only known species is Texas false saltgrass, Allolepis texana, native to western Texas and northern Mexico (Chihuahua, Coahuila, Durango, Tamaulipas).[1][6][7][8][9]

All of the known US populations are staminate (male), lacking female flowers, reproducing vegetatively. The species grows on sandy and silty soils of river bottoms and floodplains.[9]

Allolepis texana is similar to Distichlis spp. It is a dioecious, perennial herb reproducing by means of stolons running along the surface of the ground. Stems are glabrous, up to 70 cm (28 in) tall. Leaf blades are flat or somewhat folded, up to 43 cm (17 in) long and 6 mm (0.24 in) wide. Inflorescence is a tight panicle up to 6 cm (2.4 in) long with 5-70 spikelets. Staminate plants have up to 20 flowers per spikelet, pistillate plants only 5–9.[10]

  1. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  2. ^ Soderstrom, Thomas Robert & Decker, Henry Fleming 1965. Allolepis: a new segregate of Distichlis (Gramineae). Madroño 18(2): 33–64
  3. ^ Espejo Serna, A., A. R. López-Ferrari & J. Valdés-Reyna. 2000. Poaceae. Monocotiledóneas Mexicanas: una Sinopsis Florística 10: 7–236
  4. ^ Beetle, A.A. 1977. Noteworthy grasses from Mexico V. Phytologia 37(4): 317–407
  5. ^ Grassbase - The World Online Grass Flora
  6. ^ The Plant List
  7. ^ Dávila, P., Mejia-Saulés, M.T., Gómez-Sánchez, N., Valdés-Reyna, J., Ortíz, J.J., Morín, C., Castrejón, J. & Ocampo, A. (2006). Catálogo de las Gramíneas de México: 1-671. CONABIO, México D.F.
  8. ^ Watson L, Dallwitz MJ. (2008). "The grass genera of the world: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval; including synonyms, morphology, anatomy, physiology, phytochemistry, cytology, classification, pathogens, world and local distribution, and references". The Grass Genera of the World. Retrieved 2009-08-19.
  9. ^ a b Poole, J.M., et al. 2007. Rare Plants of Texas, Texas A&M University Press, College Station TX
  10. ^ Correll, D. S. & M. C. Johnston. 1970. Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas i–xv, 1–1881. The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson.