| There is a critical need for high quality native plants and seeds for habitat restoration to preserve habitats, biological diversity, and maintaining soil fertility in natural ecosystems. Hooded windmillgrass (Chloris cucullata Bisch.) and shortspike windmillgrass (Chloris subdolichostachya Muell.) are warm-season perennial grasses that are native throughout Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and the northeast of Mexico, Both grasses are very competitive and have growth characteristics which indicates potential for planting on highly erodible sites, like roadsides and on sites where introduced species are no desired. However, there are no ecotypes of this native species that are commercially available. Hooded windmillgrass is a short, perennial bunchgrass with culms 15--60 cm tall that produces multiple seed crops allowing it to reseed itself and spread, whereas shortspike windmillgrass is a medium growth strongly stoloniferous perennial grass with culms 30--70 cm tall. Other problems are that both species display spikelets with unfilled seed and dormancy, resulting in very poor apparent germination. This project was designed to develop and to promote high quality and affordable seed of hooded and shortspike windmillgrass for restoration of wildlife habitat in south Texas and northeast of Mexico. The objectives were to identify the most promising ecotypes of hooded and shortspike windmillgrasses, in terms of seed production and quality, and to determine seed dormancy causes and treatments for breaking dormancy and improved germination rates. |
