Goldentop grass (Lamarckia aurea)
Description
Lamarckia aurea , Common weed in waste places at low altitudes, Common on the Castaway's Bluffs, with a few plants at 23rd Street. Photographed on the Castaway's Bluffs. (my comments). This plant, sometimes cultivated for ornament, is an introduction from the Mediterranean region, and now occurs in cultivated and waste ground from Texas to California. It is less common in the northern part of the state than in the southern part, where it was in great abundance as early as 1881. (Robbins 85). Lamarckia has been known to cause hay fever and asthma., cismontane including islands., Low annual, cespitose, glabrous; stems generally erect, 7-40 cm.; cauline lvs. +/- evenly distributed, blade 2.5-9 cm., 2.5-7 mm. wide, flat; ligule 3-7 mm., membranous, glabrous, tip +/- irregularly cu; infl. panicle-like, terminal, 2-8 cm., dense, golden yellow to purplish; axis short-white-hairy in branch axils; spikelets short-stalked, with 1 fertile terminal floret on a long rachilla-joint, and 1-3 sterile spikelets in spreading to drooping clusters, each cluster generally falling as 1 unit; fertile spikelet with glumes 2.5-4 mm., +/- equal, generally equal the spikelet in length; florets 2; lower floret fertile, 2.5-3 mm., lemma awned from near tip, awn 6-7 mm., straight; upper floret sterile, +/- 0.5 mm., awn 4-5 mm.; sterile spikelet 6-9 mm., longer than glumes, linear, glumes longer than lower floret; florets 5-8; lemmas +/- overlapping, 1.5-2 mm., obtuse, tip +/- fringed, awn 0.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Liliopsida
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Order: Poales
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Family: Poaceae
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Genus: Lamarckia
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