| Section 5 » Order Cyperales » Family Poaceae |
Show/Hide Synonym
| taxonName | relationship | relatedTaxonName | relatedTaxonRefText | relComments |
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| Andropogon capillipes | < | Andropogon virginicus | Radford, Ahles, and Bell (1968) | | | Andropogon capillipes | < | Andropogon virginicus var. glaucus | Fernald (1950) | | | Andropogon capillipes | < | Andropogon virginicus var. glaucus | Flora of North America (1993b, 1997, 2000, 2002a, 2002b, 2003a, 2004b, 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2006c, 2007a, 2009, 2010) | | | Andropogon capillipes | < | Andropogon virginicus var. glaucus | Wunderlin & Hansen Flora of Florida (3) | | | Andropogon capillipes | < | Andropogon capillipes | Godfrey and Wooten (1979, 1981) | | | Andropogon capillipes | < | Andropogon capillipes | Hitchcock & Chase (Manual of US Grasses) | | | Andropogon capillipes | < | Andropogon capillipes | Kartesz (1999) | | | Andropogon capillipes | < | Andropogon capillipes | Small (1933, 1938) | | | Andropogon capillipes | = | Andropogon virginicus var. glaucus "drylands varian | Weakley et al. (2011)=Y. Key adapted in part from Z. | | | Source: Weakley's Flora |
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| Author | Nash | |
| Distribution | Southern outer Coastal Plain only; known from just 5 counties, north to Onslow County.
NC to southern FL to southern AL. | |
| Abundance | Uncommon and probably overlooked; some specimens are probably actually other species, such as the recently split out A. dealbatus. See LeBlond and Weakley (2011) for this taxonomic split. The NCNHP has added the species to the Watch List (W7), with a State Rank of S2S4, to indicate considerable uncertainty on its abundance. | |
| Habitat | Dry to mesic pine flatwoods, sandhills, roadsides, powerlines. The habitats for this species are quite widespread, and thus the relative scarcity of records may suggest under-collecting. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting September-October. | |
| Identification | This is one of several NC bluestems with glaucous (chalky white or bluish white) stems and leaves. It is very similar to A. dealbatus, which has been split off from it. A. capillipes differs in its drier habitats, shorter spikelets (mostly 3.2-3.5 mm long vs. mostly 3.5-3.9 mm long), and narrower leaves (averaging 3.5 mm wide vs. 5.0 mm wide in A. dealbatus). | |
| Taxonomic Comments | Anatherum capillipes (Nash) Vorontsova & Kellogg is a newly published synonym. Note that A. dealbatus has been split off from A. capillipes. Prior to that, A. capillipes was included within the very broad concept of A. virginicus, which most botanists knew was comprised of more than a single species.
While the genus Andropogon is quite easy to recognize in the field, ID of species is not so easy and there are no shortcuts. Readers are strongly advised to read the introductory paragraphs in Weakley (2025) and to use his key. Once one has successfully keyed out several species, or compared collections with verified specimens, one can learn to recognize them in the field.
In 2023 Vorontsova et al. published a paper (click on our References tab) in which they split off Anatherum from Andropogon. Most of the former are found in the Americas and Africa. For now, until the dust settles, the NCVP taxon editors will provide the new names in Anatherum as synonyms of the traditional Andropogon. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | Chalky Bluestem (also used for A. cretaceus) | |
| State Rank | S2S4 | |
| Global Rank | G5T4T5 | |
| State Status | W7 | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FAC link |
| USACE-emp | FACU link |
