Family: Poaceae
Group: Monocot
Substrate:
Terrestrial
Habit:
Herb
Perennation:
Annual
Native Range: South Florida, the West Indies, Mexico, Central America, and South America; naturalized elsewhere.
Florida Natural Areas Inventory State Status:
Presumed Extirpated or Extinct
IRC SOUTH FLORIDA Status:
Presumed Extirpated or Extinct in the Wild
Map of select IRC data for peninsular Florida
SOUTH FLORIDA Occurrence:
Presumed Extirpated
SOUTH FLORIDA Native Status:
Native
South Florida History and Distribution: Ranked as presumed extirpated in Rare Plants of South Florida (
Gann et al. 2002, pp 67-68), based on numerous collections between 1846 and 1930 in the Florida Keys, and a single, possibly introducted population vouchered in Miami-Dade County on the mainland in 1963. A 2010 specimen collected on Key Largo (
Bradley 2713 FTG) does not match the key characters and is likely
Cenchus echinatus.
SOUTH FLORIDA Cultivated Status:
Not Cultivated
Comments: The spikelet of this species most closely resembles that of
Cenchrus echinatus, with the spines in two series, the inner flatenned and the outer rounded and forming a ring at the base. It differs in that the mature bur is smaller, 2.7-4.2 mm wide excluding the spines, and 4-5.3 mm long, versus 4.1-6.3 mm wide and 5.3-8 mm long. Click
here for an excellent image of
Cenchrus brownii collected in Panama. For an image of the bur from a live plant, click on the USDA PLANTS link below.
Synonyms:
C. viridis.
FLORIDA KEYS Occurrence:
Presumed Extirpated
FLORIDA KEYS Native Status:
Presumed Extirpated
IRC FLORIDA KEYS Status:
Presumed Extirpated
Map of select IRC data for the Florida Keys
Florida Keys History and Distribution: Reported in
1913 by John Kunkel Small for hammocks in the upper Keys. We consider this native and presumed extirpated from the upper Keys to the lower Keys. Last collected in 1954 on the island of Key West by Ellsworth P. Killip (44292, US). For more information, see IRC's
species account.
