Dichanthelium boreale
Dichanthelium ×anthophysum
northern panicgrass, northern rosette-panicgrass, panic boreal
pale panicgrass, panic jaunâtre
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.
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.
3-5;
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.
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.
2-2.2 mm long, 0.8-1.3 mm wide, ellipsoid, usually reddish, shortly pubescent, subacute.
3.2-4.1 mm long, 1.8-2.2 mm wide, obovoid, turgid, puberulent to subglabrous, with rounded apices.
0.5-1 mm, triangular-ovate;
lower florets sterile;
upper florets slightly exceeding the upper glumes and lower lemmas, subacute.
1.7-2.2 mm, narrowly triangular;
lower florets staminate;
upper florets longer than the upper glumes, mucronate.
rosettes well-differentiated;
blades 2-4 cm, pubescent, reddish.
rosettes often poorly differentiated;
blades few, grading into the cauline blades.
panicles 5-11 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, ovoid, long-exserted, with 40-220 spikelets.
= 18.
= 36.
Dichanthelium boreale
Dichanthelium ×anthophysum
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 ×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.)
Go Botany
IL Wildflowers
MD Biodiversity
MI Flora
MN Wildflowers
MO Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
