BOTANICAL AND ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES: Andropogon cabanisii | Firegrass 



GENERAL BOTANICAL CHARACTERISTICS : 
Firegrass is a native, perennial, cespitose graminoid [3].  Culms are
erect, 31 to 59 inches (80-150 cm) tall, and occur in small tufts.  The
upper half of each culm bears long slender branches.  The inflorescence
has two racemes and is 1.6 to 2.8 inches (4-7 cm) long [4].  Rachis
hairs make the inflorescence villous [14].  The lemma awn is 0.6 inches
(1.5 cm) long and twisted.  The fruit is a caryopsis [4].


RAUNKIAER LIFE FORM : 
   Hemicryptophyte


REGENERATION PROCESSES : 
Firegrass sprouts from perennating buds at the base of the culms.  It
also reproduces by seed [4].


SITE CHARACTERISTICS : 
Firegrass occurs in dry pine woods of Florida [4,7,10].  It also occurs
occasionally on sandhills and in sand pine (Pinus clausa) scrub of
central Florida [14].  It sometimes occurs in moist sites as well [12].

Firegrass in south-central Florida occurs on fine sand.  Average annual
rainfall is about 55 inches (140 cm) a year, 75 percent of which falls
from May to October.  Average temperatures from May to October are
maximum/minimum 90/64 degrees Fahrenheit (31.6/17.8 deg C) [5].  In
extreme southeastern Florida firegrass occurs on rough limestone
substrate with crevices and solution holes but very little soil
development [7,10].  Firegrass in Liberty County occurs on limestone
bedrock with surface soils derived from sand.  It occurs on poorly
drained, somewhat poorly drained, and moderately to excessively
well-drained soils [12].


SUCCESSIONAL STATUS : 
Facultative Seral Species

Firegrass in the Florida panhandle occurred in savanna vegetation, in
stands of thinned and unthinned longleaf pine forest, and in a natural
slash pine stand.  The longleaf pine stands had trees up to 78 years old
and canopy cover of 41 to 49 percent.  The slash pine stand had 58
percent canopy cover.  There was no midstory in either forest type [12].

In slash pine forests on limestone rockland in extreme southeastern
Florida, firegrass and other herbaceous, light-requiring understory flora
are eliminated when shaded by native tropical hardwood trees [7].


SEASONAL DEVELOPMENT : 
Firegrass flowers in the fall in central Florida [14].

Related categories for Species: Andropogon cabanisii | Firegrass