Sphenopholis obtusata
Encyclopedia
Sphenopholis obtusata is a species of grass
known by the common name prairie wedgescale. It is native to North America where it is widespread across southern Canada
and the United States
. It occurs in many types of habitat, including prairie
, marsh
es, dune
s, and disturbed areas.
Sphenopholis obtusata is a perennial bunchgrass growing 20 centimeters to well over one meter in maximum height. The short leaves have ligule
s with jagged tips. The inflorescence
is generally a dense, spikelike panicle
of oval-shaped spikelets. The inflorescence is greenish white, darkening brownish as it matures.
Poaceae
The Poaceae is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of flowering plants. Members of this family are commonly called grasses, although the term "grass" is also applied to plants that are not in the Poaceae lineage, including the rushes and sedges...
known by the common name prairie wedgescale. It is native to North America where it is widespread across southern Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. It occurs in many types of habitat, including prairie
Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
, marsh
Marsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es, dune
Dune
In physical geography, a dune is a hill of sand built by wind. Dunes occur in different forms and sizes, formed by interaction with the wind. Most kinds of dunes are longer on the windward side where the sand is pushed up the dune and have a shorter "slip face" in the lee of the wind...
s, and disturbed areas.
Sphenopholis obtusata is a perennial bunchgrass growing 20 centimeters to well over one meter in maximum height. The short leaves have ligule
Ligule
A ligule — is a thin outgrowth at the junction of leaf and leafstalk of many grasses and sedges or a strap-shaped corolla, such as that of a ray floret in plants in the daisy family....
s with jagged tips. The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
is generally a dense, spikelike panicle
Panicle
A panicle is a compound raceme, a loose, much-branched indeterminate inflorescence with pedicellate flowers attached along the secondary branches; in other words, a branched cluster of flowers in which the branches are racemes....
of oval-shaped spikelets. The inflorescence is greenish white, darkening brownish as it matures.