Dichanthelium laxiflorum
Dichanthelium aciculare
openflower rosette grass, soft-tuft panicgrass
narrow-leaf panicgrass, needleleaf rosette grass
15-55 cm, slender, erect or radiating from a large tuft of predominantly basal leaves, lower internodes short, upper 3-5 internodes elongate;
nodes bearded with soft, spreading or retrorse hairs;
internodes glabrous;
fall phase branching extensively from the basal nodes, forming a dense cushion that overwinters.
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.
2-4;
sheaths usually longer than the internodes, pilose, hairs to 4 mm, retrorse or spreading;
ligules 0.2-1 mm, at low magnification appearing to be membranous and ciliate, at high magnification evidently of hairs that are coherent at the base;
blades 4-17 cm long, 4-12 mm wide, lanceolate, at least 3/4 as long as the basal blades, spreading to suberect, thin, soft, lax, yellowish-green, nearly glabrous or densely pilose on 1 or both surfaces, margins usually finely short-ciliate, at least on the basal 1/2, cilia not papillose-based.
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.
1.7-2.3 mm long, 1-1.2 mm wide, broadly ovate or oblong-obovoid, with papillose-based hairs, obtuse.
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.
1/4 - 1/3 as long as the spikelets, broadly deltoid;
upper glumes and lower lemmas subequal, usually fully covering the upper florets;
upper florets 1.5-1.8 mm long, 1-1.2 mm wide, broadly ellipsoid or obovoid, minutely umbonate.
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.
rosettes poorly differentiated;
blades ovate to lanceolate.
rosettes poorly differentiated;
blades usually large, ovate to lanceolate, often transitional to the cauline blades.
panicles 4-12 cm long, 3-8 cm wide, well-exserted;
secondary panicles more compact, usually not exserted above the crowded basal leaves;
rachises and branches wiry, spreading or deflexed, often pilose.
panicles 2-10 cm long, 0.5-7 cm wide, open or contracted, well-exserted.
= 18.
= 18.
Dichanthelium laxiflorum
Dichanthelium aciculare
Dichanthelium laxiflorum is a widespread, common species that grows in mesic deciduous woods, and occasionally in drier, more open woodlands. Its range extends south from the Flora region into Mexico. The density of the pubescence on the blade surfaces varies greatly.
The primary (spring) panicles are apparently chasmogamous; the secondary panicles are largely cleistogamous and are produced from late spring to winter.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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.)
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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