Sporobolus giganteus Nash

Sporobolus giganteus Nash, Bull. Torrey Club 25: 88. 1898
Sporobolus cryptandrus var. robustus Vasey, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 1: 56. 1890. (Type from Texas, Nealley [746]). Not 5. robustus Kunth, 1831.
Sporobolus cryptandrus var. giganteus Jones, Contr. West. Bot. 14: 11. 1912. (Based on 5. giganteus Nash.)
Perennial, resembling S. cryptandrus; culms erect, robust, 1-2 meters tall; blades as much as 1 cm. wide, usually less pilose on the collar; panicle usually thicker than in 5. contractus, less spikelike; spikelets 2.5-3 mm. long.
Type locality: Dona Ana County, New Mexico (Wooton 394). Distribution: Mesas and sandhills, western Texas to Arizona.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, 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 with inflorescence 1-2 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leave s conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence a dense slender spike-like panicle or raceme, branches contracted, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets laterally compressed, Inflorescence or spikelets partially hidden in leaf sheaths, subtended by spatheole, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fer tille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, glumes persistent, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes shorter than adjacent lemma, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemmas thin, chartaceous, hyaline, cartilaginous, or membranous, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 1 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma straight, 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, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longitudinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Sporobolus giganteus là một loài thực vật có hoa trong họ Hòa thảo. Loài này được Nash miêu tả khoa học đầu tiên năm 1898.