Flora of North America species comparison

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Dichanthelium boreale

Dichanthelium erectifolium

northern panicgrass, northern rosette-panicgrass, panic boreal

erect-leaf panicgrass, Florida panicgrass
Habit Plants cespitose. Plants cespitose, with few culms.
Culms

18-75 cm, usually more than 1 mm thick, occasionally delicate, erect or ascending;

nodes glabrous;

internodes glabrous;

fall phase with decumbent culms, branches arising from the lower and midculm nodes, rebranching 2-3 times, with small blades and secondary panicles compared to those on the culms, secondary panicles with 8-10 spikelets, partially included at maturity.

30-75 cm, nearly erect, stiff, slightly fleshy or thickened;

nodes glabrous, often with a constricted, yellowish ring;

internodes glabrous;

fall phase with few, long, suberect branches, sparingly rebranched, branches arising mostly from near the base.
Cauline leaves

3-5;

sheaths shorter than the internodes, lower sheaths pubescent, upper sheaths glabrous, margins of all sheaths sparsely ciliate;

ligules about 0.5 mm, of hairs;

blades 5-11 cm long, 5-13 mm wide, thin, spreading to erect, usually glabrous, rarely pubescent abaxially, always glabrous adaxially, bases truncate to cordate, ciliate on the margins, blades of the flag leaves erect or ascending.

4-7;

sheaths shorter than the internodes, mostly glabrous, margins ciliate;

ligules 0.2-0.5 mm;

blades 5-10 cm long, 5-10 mm wide, stiffly ascending, thick, glabrous, veins evident, bases cordate, with papillose-based cilia, margins whitish, cartilaginous.
Spikelets

2-2.2 mm long, 0.8-1.3 mm wide, ellipsoid, usually reddish, shortly pubescent, subacute.

1-1.4 mm, broadly obovoid-spherical, puberulent to subglabrous.
Lower glumes

0.5-1 mm, triangular-ovate;

lower florets sterile;

upper florets slightly exceeding the upper glumes and lower lemmas, subacute.

0.2-0.4 mm, acute, upper florets 0.8-1.1 mm, broadly ellipsoid, minutely umbonate.
Basal

rosettes well-differentiated;

blades 2-4 cm, pubescent, reddish.

rosettes well-differentiated;

blades numerous, to 15 cm, lowest blades ovate, upper blades lanceolate, grading into the cauline blades.
Primary

panicles 5-11 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, ovoid, long-exserted, with 40-220 spikelets.

panicles 5-14 cm, 1/2 - 2/3 as wide as long, exserted.
2n

= 18.

= unknown.

Dichanthelium boreale

Dichanthelium erectifolium
Distribution
from FNA
CT; DC; GA; IA; IL; IN; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; PA; RI; TN; VA; VT; WI; WV; LB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Dichanthelium boreale grows in open woodlands and thickets, wet meadows, and fields. It is restricted to the Flora region. The primary panicles are mostly open-pollinated and are produced in May and June; the secondary panicles are predominantly cleistogamous and are produced from mid-June into October.

Dichanthelium boreale occasionally hybridizes with D. acuminatum and D. xanthophysum, producing a sterile triploid sometimes called Panicum calliphyllum Ashe.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Dichanthelium erectifolium grows in sand and peat in wet pinelands, bogs, and the shores of ponds. Its range extends from the southeastern Flora region into the Caribbean.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 434. FNA vol. 25, p. 440.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Dichanthelium > sect. Dichanthelium Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Dichanthelium > sect. Sphaerocarpa
Sibling taxa
D. aciculare, D. acuminatum, D. boscii, D. chamaelonche, D. clandestinum, D. commutatum, D. consanguineum, D. depauperatum, D. dichotomum, D. ensifolium, D. erectifolium, D. latifolium, D. laxiflorum, D. leibergii, D. linearifolium, D. malacophyllum, D. nodatum, D. nudicaule, D. oligosanthes, D. ovale, D. pedicellatum, D. perlongum, D. polyanthes, D. portoricense, D. ravenelii, D. scabriusculum, D. scoparium, D. sphaerocarpon, D. strigosum, D. tenue, D. wilcoxianum, D. wrightianum, D. ×anthophysum
D. aciculare, D. acuminatum, D. boreale, D. boscii, D. chamaelonche, D. clandestinum, D. commutatum, D. consanguineum, D. depauperatum, D. dichotomum, D. ensifolium, D. latifolium, D. laxiflorum, D. leibergii, D. linearifolium, D. malacophyllum, D. nodatum, D. nudicaule, D. oligosanthes, D. ovale, D. pedicellatum, D. perlongum, D. polyanthes, D. portoricense, D. ravenelii, D. scabriusculum, D. scoparium, D. sphaerocarpon, D. strigosum, D. tenue, D. wilcoxianum, D. wrightianum, D. ×anthophysum
Synonyms Panicum boreale var. michiganense, Panicum boreale Panicum erectifolium
Name authority (Nash) Freckmann (Nash) Gould & C.A. Clark
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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