Dichanthelium aciculare
Dichanthelium ×anthophysum
narrow-leaf panicgrass, needleleaf rosette grass
pale panicgrass, panic jaunâtre
15-75 cm, erect;
nodes glabrous or sparsely pubescent;
internodes glabrous or puberulent to pilose basally;
fall phase with erect to spreading culms, extensively branched from the mid- and upper culm nodes, eventually producing flabellate clusters of reduced, flat or involute blades.
20-55 cm, most forming in the spring additional culms sometimes produced in the fall;
nodes glabrous or sparsely ascending-pubescent;
internodes all elongated, glabrous or puberulent;
fall phase with a few suberect branches from the lower and midculm nodes, branches not rebranching, blades slightly reduced, secondary panicles partially exserted.
3-7;
sheaths shorter than the internodes, glabrous or with soft, ascending, papillose-based hairs;
ligules 0.5-2 mm, of hairs;
lower blades 4-16 cm long, 3-9 mm wide, stiffly ascending to erect, glabrous or sparsely pilose to pubescent, with prominent raised veins, flat or longitudinally wrinkled, blades of the flag leaves often greatly reduced, often involute.
3-4;
lower sheaths not overlapping, sometimes pubescent;
upper sheaths overlapping, sparsely to densely pubescent, hairs papillose-based, margins ciliate;
ligules 0.3-0.5 mm, membranous, ciliate, cilia longer than the membranous bases;
blades 7-17 cm long, 7-23 mm wide, erect, pale yellow-green to bluish-green, glabrous, with 7-11 prominent major veins and 30-110 minor veins, bases tapered or rounded to truncate, margins with papillose-based cilia.
7-14 cm long, 1-5 cm wide, their length usually more than twice their width, narrowly cylindric, eventually well-exserted, with 9-46 spikelets;
branches strongly ascending, stiff.
1.7-3.6 mm long, 1.2-1.8 mm wide, obovoid to ellipsoid, biconvex in side view, glabrous or pubescent, bases narrow to attenuate, apices blunt or pointed to beaked.
3.2-4.1 mm long, 1.8-2.2 mm wide, obovoid, turgid, puberulent to subglabrous, with rounded apices.
thin, weakly veined, about 1/3 as long as the spikelets, attached to 0.5 mm below upper glumes, clasping at the base, broadly triangular to rounded;
upper glumes with 5-9 prominent veins;
lower florets sterile;
upper florets apiculate.
1.7-2.2 mm, narrowly triangular;
lower florets staminate;
upper florets longer than the upper glumes, mucronate.
rosettes poorly differentiated;
blades usually large, ovate to lanceolate, often transitional to the cauline blades.
rosettes often poorly differentiated;
blades few, grading into the cauline blades.
panicles 2-10 cm long, 0.5-7 cm wide, open or contracted, well-exserted.
= 18.
= 36.
Dichanthelium aciculare
Dichanthelium ×anthophysum
Dichanthelium aciculare grows in sandy, open areas in the southeastern United States, the West Indies and the Caribbean, southern Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. It has not been reported from northern Mexico. The primary panicles are open-pollinated (sometimes briefly) and develop from April to June; the secondary panicles are cleistogamous and develop from May into late fall.
The subspecies are often distinct when growing together, perhaps maintained by the predominant autogamy, but they are more difficult to separate over wider geographic areas. Rare, partly fertile putative hybrids with Dichanthelium consanguineum, D. acuminatum, D. ovale, D. portoricense, and (possibly) D. dichotomum apparently lead to some intergradation with these species.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Dichanthelium ×anthophysum usually grows on sandy or rocky soils in semi-open pine, oak, or aspen woodlands. It extends from eastern Saskatchewan and northeast Montana to Quebec, New England, and West Virginia. Plants from Minnesota and western Quebec approach D. leibergii in having cauline blades narrower than 10 mm, and papillose-based hairs. Sterile putative hybrids with D. leibergii and D. boreale are rare; those with D. boreale have been called Panicum calliphyllum Ashe.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Primary panicles usually contracted; branches appearing 1-sided; culms sparsely pubescent to almost glabrous | subsp. neurantbum |
1. Primary panicles not contracted; branches not appearing 1-sided; culms usually pubescent, at least on the lower internodes. | → 2 |
2. Spikelets 1.7-2.3 mm long, with blunt apices | subsp. aciculare |
2. Spikelets 2.4-3.6 mm long, with pointed or beaked apices. | → 3 |
3. Spikelets 2.4-3 mm long, not strongly attenuate at the base; lower glumes attached less than 0.2 mm below the upper glumes | subsp. angustifolium |
3. Spikelets 2.9-3.6 mm long, strongly attenuate at the base; lower glumes attached 0.3-0.5 mm below the upper glumes | subsp. fusiforme |
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