Sporobolus airoides

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Monocots
Cladus: Commelinids
Ordo: Poales

Familia: Poaceae
Subfamilia: Chloridoideae
Tribus: Zoysieae
Subtribus: Sporobolinae
Genus: Sporobolus
Species: Sporobolus airoides
Name

Sporobolus airoides (Torr.) Torr.
References

Pacif. Railr. Rep. Parke, Bot. 21. 1856 (Pacif. Railr. Rep. 7(3):21. 1857)
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Sporobolus airoides in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 07-Oct-06.

Vernacular names
English: alkali sacaton

Sporobolus airoides is a species of grass known by the common name alkali sacaton.[1] It is native to western North America, including the Western United States west of the Mississippi River, British Columbia and Alberta in Canada, and northern and central Mexico. It grows in many types of habitat, often in alkali soils, such as in California desert regions.

Description

Sporobolus airoides is a perennial bunchgrass forming a clump of stems reaching up to 2 m (6.6 ft) tall. The stem bases are thick and tough, almost woody in texture. The fibrous green or gray-green leaves are up to 60 cm (24 in) in length. The inflorescence is long and generally wide open and spreading, bearing yellow spikelets with purplish bases. The grass produces abundant seeds, which are often dispersed in flowing water and germinate when embedded in sediment.[2]
Halophyte – salinity

Sporobolus airoides is a facultative halophyte, able to grow in soils with high salt concentrations.[2] This grass germinates best in warm, sunny, wet conditions, and it can easily move into saline soils such as those in alkali flats when the substrate is wet.[2]
Cultivation

It is a valuable grass for habitat restoration and revegetation projects in disturbed habitat in the Southwest United States, especially in riparian zones in California and the Intermountain West.[2]
Mojave Desert

It is planted with Muhlenbergia asperifolia (scratchgrass) for Mojave River and other riparian zone restoration in the Mojave Desert.[3] It produces dense groundcover once established.[2]
References

"Sporobolus airoides". Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS Database. USDA. Retrieved 27 November 2015.
US Forest Service Fire Ecology
Hershdorfer, M. and R. Garner. Sporobolus airoides and Muhlenbergia asperifolia: Population developments for southern Nevada. USDA. March 2006.