keys to the vascular plants of east texas - Botanical Research ...

874 POACEAE/COIX
following J. Wipff (pers. comm.), Kartesz (1999), Yatskievych (1999), and Allen (2003b) in treating
the species in Coelorachis. Like all members of the Andropogoneae, Coelorachis is characterized
by C4 photosynthesis (Kellogg 2000a). (Greek: coelo, hollow, and rachis, spine or backbone,
possibly from the niches in the rachis (= inflorescence axis) into which the spikelets fit) (subfamily
Panicoideae, tribe Andropogoneae)
REFERENCES: Clayton 1970; Veldkamp et al. 1986; Allen 2003b.
1. Leaf sheaths rounded or only slightly keeled; lower glume of sessile (fertile) spikelets � pitted,
the pits appearing � as if in rows; sessile spikelets (4–)5–6 mm long _______________________ C. cylindrica
1. Leaf sheaths strongly keeled at least apically; lower glume of sessile (fertile) spikelets with irregular
transverse ridges; sessile spikelets 3–4(–5) mm long ________________________________ C. rugosa
Coelorachis cylindrica (Michx.) Nash, (cylindrical), CAROLINA JOINT-TAIL, JOINT GRASS. Glabrous
perennial with hard-based, solitary or loosely clumped, erect to over-arched culms 25–100(–120)
cm long; old plants with short, knotty rhizomes; ligule 0.5–1 mm long; leaf blades to 30 cm long,
1.5–4 mm wide; inflorescence 4–15 cm long, very slender (usually ca. 3 mm thick—sometimes
to 6 mm wide if spikelets spreading); sessile spikelets (4–)5–6 mm long; pedicelled spikelets
much smaller (1–2 mm long), rudimentary, less than half as long as pedicels; upper (fertile)
lemmas of sessile spikelets 4–4.5 mm long. Prairies and open woods, sandy or clayey soils;
widespread in e 1/2 of TX; se U.S. from NC s to FL w to KS and TX. Mostly May–Jul. An important
component of certain native sandy prairies, including “mima mound” prairies. [Manisuris
cylindrica (Michx.) Kuntze, Mnesithea cylindrica (Michx.) de Koning & Sosef] Jones et al.
(1997) and Turner et al. (2003) treated this species as Mnesithea cylindrica.
Coelorachis rugosa (Nutt.) Nash, (wrinkled), WRINKLED JOINT-TAIL. Coarse perennial, glabrous;
culms 75–130 cm tall, much-branched above, each branch terminating in an inflorescence; leaf
blades to 35 cm long, 2–8 mm wide; inflorescence 4–8(–9.5) cm long, 2–2.5 mm thick (sometimes
to ca. 3 mm wide if spikelets spreading); sessile spikelets 3–4(–5) mm long; pedicelled
spikelets much reduced and rudimentary (1–3 mm long), shorter than pedicels; upper (fertile)
lemmas of sessile spikelets 2–3 mm long. Moist soils, along streams, lakes, and other wet areas;
Anderson (BRIT), Montgomery (TAES), Hardin, Harris, Tyler (SBSC); Angelina, Newton, Trinity
(Turner et al. 2003), and Jasper (E. Keith, pers. comm., BAYLU, SBSC) cos. in the Pineywoods; also
Galveston Co. (SBSC) in the Gulf Prairies and Marshes; se U.S. from NJ s to FL w to AR and TX.
Mostly Jul–Oct. [Manisuris rugosa (Nutt.) Kuntze, Mnesithea rugosa (Nutt.) de Koning & Sosef]
Jones et al. (1997) and Turner et al. (2003) treated this species as Mnesithea rugosa.
COIX L. JOB’S-TEARS
AA genus of ca. 5 species of tropical Asia (Thieret 2003e). Like all members of the
Andropogoneae, Coix is characterized by C4 photosynthesis (Kellogg 2000a). Two of the species,
primarily C. lacryma-jobi, are harvested for food in Asia. The position of Coix in the
Andropogoneae is unclear; it has been variously linked with Zea and Tripsacum in phylogenetic
studies using morphology (Kellogg & Watson 1993), or, using molecular data, either to a
core group of Andropogoneae or to all other Andropogoneae as sister group (Mason-Gamer et
al. 1998; Spangler et al. 1999; Kellogg 2000a). (Greek: koix, a kind of Egyptian palm, the name
applied by Linnaeus to this genus) (subfamily Panicoideae, tribe Andropogoneae)
REFERENCES: Jain & Banerjee 1974; Cámara-Hernández & Gambino 1998; Thieret 2003e.
Coix lacryma-jobi L., (Job’s-tears), JOB’S-TEARS. Large, branched, monoecious annual 1–1.5(–3) m
tall; ligule membranous; leaf blades broad and flat, to 60(–75) cm long and 5(–6) cm wide; inflorescences
numerous, long pedunculate from the axils of the upper leaves, each consisting of
two parts: an ovoid to nearly globose, variously colored but often pearly-white or grayish, beadlike
involucre (a modified sheathing bract) 6–13 mm long which contains the pistillate portion