Gymnopogon floridanus Swallen:
United States (North America)

Gymnopogon chapmanianus Hitchc.:
United States (North America)

United States

Origin: Native

Regularity: Regularly occurring

Currently: Present

Confidence: Confident

Type of Residency: Year-round

Global Range: Collier County, Florida - 'Gulf Coast to S. Peninsular, Florida`. Wunderlin (1982) lists as "nearly throughout" central Florida; Clewell (1985) lists for Wakulla and Dixie counties. Kartesz (Ga. checklist; see also Ga. atlas) accepts for southernmost Georgia as well.

Annuals, Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems solitary, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, L eaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Ligule present, Ligule a fringed, ciliate, or lobed membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence a panicle with digitately arranged spicate branches, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Rachis angular, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets with 3-7 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes equal or subequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equa l to or longer than spikelet, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex dentate, 2-fid, Lemma mucronate, very shortly beaked or awned, less than 1-2 mm, Lemma distinctly awned, more than 2-3 mm, Lemma with 1 awn, Lemma awn less than 1 cm long, Lemma awn subapical or dorsal, Lemma awns straight or curved to base, Lemma straight, Callus or base of lemma evidently hairy, Callus hairs shorter than lemma, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.

Distinguished from G. ambiguus by the awn of the lemma up to 2.5 mm long, usually shorter than the lemma body (vs. 4-10 mm long, longer than the lemma body); and from G. brevifolius by (1) spikelets 2-4-flowered (vs. 1-flowered); (2) panicle branches bearing spikelets nearly to the base (vs. mainly in the upper half of the branch); and (3) first glume 3.8-5.0 mm long (vs. 2.3-3.7 mm long). (Clewell 1985, Wunderlin 1982)

Holotype for Gymnopogon floridanus Swallen
Collection: Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Botany
Verification Degree: Card file verified by examination of alleged type specimen
Preparation: Pressed specimen
Collector(s): J. R. Swallen
Year Collected: 1938
Locality: Penny Farms., Clay, Florida, United States, North America

Comments: Sandhills, sand pine scrub, sandy prairies, and pine flatwoods.

Note: For many non-migratory species, occurrences are roughly equivalent to populations.

Estimated Number of Occurrences: 21 - 80

Comments: 31 Element Occurrences recorded by FNAI as of January 1999.

Most grasses are wind-pollinated. Dispersal mechanisms in the family include wind (many species' seeds are plumed or winged) and various forms of animal transport.

United States

Rounded National Status Rank: N3 - Vulnerable

Rounded Global Status Rank: G3 - Vulnerable

Reasons: Restricted to central Florida (31 occurrences) and Georgia. Many of the Florida occurrences are on managed areas. As with other plants of the central ridge, this species suffers from habitat degradation and alteration.