Sporobolus (wrightii)
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Allegra Mount Seed Lab Manager Borderlands Restoration PO Box 1191 Patagonia, Arizona 85624 949-690-2592 borderlands.restoration@gmail.com www.borderlandsrestoration.org |
| Family Scientific Name: | Poaceae | ||
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| Family Common Name: | Grass family | ||
| Scientific Name: | Sporobolus wrightii Munro ex Scribn. | ||
| Common Name: | Giant Sacaton | ||
| Ecotype: | Madrean Archipelago | ||
| General Distribution: | Found from 2,000-5,000 feet along river banks and dry, sandy, open sites (Kearney and Peebles 1961). In healthy floodplain areas of southern Arizona, this grass is the dominant species created expansive “sacaton flats”. While sacaton is fairly common, its range has significantly declined over the past century--it now occurs in less than 5% of its original range (Humphrey 1960, Tiller et al 2013). It grows in areas with less than 20 ft depth to the water table (Tiller et al 2013) where it provides essential ecosystem services related to watershed health, animal forage and habitat, and erosion control. | ||
| Propagation Goal: | Plants | ||
| Propagation Method: | Seed | ||
| ProductType: | Container (plug) | ||
| Propagule Collection: | Seeds can be collected from September-December and populations sometimes have multiple flowering events per season depending on rainfall (personal observation). Snap entire panicles from the plant to collect many thousands of seeds. | ||
| Propagule Processing: |
“Rough up” panicles over a tarp to knock seeds loose. Sieve branches and other material out. Can also manually strip the panicles by running fingernails down the branches to ensure more of the seed is obtained than the roughing-up method. Orthodox storage is assumed. Similar species have maintained viability after 7 years of storage (Brakie 2007). |
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| Establishment Phase: |
No specific information was found for this species’ germination requirements or rates. However, Giant Sacaton was previously classified as a variety of alkali sacaton (Sporobolus airoides) which was reported to have 99% germination rates after 7 years of storage in an open warehouse (Brakie 2007). Inoculating soil with mycorrhizal fungi has shown to improve plant success (Richter and Stutz 2002). Fungal inoculation of planting media should be considered especially when sites are highly degraded and unlikely to have extant mycorrhizal populations. |
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| References: |
Brakie, Melinda. “Plant Fact Sheet for Alkali Sacaton (Sporobolus airoides) (Torr.) Torr” USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet. USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, East Texas Plant Materials Center, Nagadoches, TX, 2007. Humphrey, Robert R. "The desert grassland a history of vegetational change and an analysis of causes." The Botanical Review 24.4 1958: 193-252 Kearney, Thomas H., and Robert H. Peebles. Arizona Flora. Berkeley: U of California, 1960. Print. Tiller, Ron, Melissa Hughes, and Gita Bodner. "Sacaton riparian grasslands of the Sky Islands: Mapping distribution and ecological condition using state-and-transition models in Upper Cienega Creek Watershed." Merging Science and Management in a Rapidly Changing World: Biodiversity and Management of the Madrean Archipelago. Tucson, AZ, 2013. Borderlands Restoration Network (2018). BRN Native Plant Materials Program Database. Unpublished Raw Data. |
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Citation:
Claverie, Francesca; McNelis, Perin; Mount, Allegra; Allen-Cantú, Juniper. 2018. Propagation protocol for production of Container (plug) Sporobolus wrightii Munro ex Scribn. Plants Borderlands Restoration Patagonia, Arizona. In: Native Plant Network. URL: https://NativePlantNetwork.org (accessed 2025/02/23). US Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, National Center for Reforestation, Nurseries, and Genetic Resources.
