Dichanthelium linearifolium
Dichanthelium aciculare
linear-leaf panicgrass, linear-leaf rosette-panicgrass, panic à feuilles linéaires, slim-leaf rosette grass, slimleaf panicgrass, slimleaf panicum
narrow-leaf panicgrass, needleleaf rosette grass
10-50 cm, very slender, erect to drooping, lower 3-8 internodes telescoped together, less than 2 cm, upper 2 internodes elongated;
nodes bearded;
internodes pubescent to almost glabrous;
fall phase developing a dense mass of erect blades and foreshortened branches arising from the basal nodes, terminating in small, narrow secondary panicles that are enclosed within the sheaths, with 6-15 spikelets.
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 longer than the internodes, glabrous or pilose with dense, fine, papillose-based hairs;
ligules about 0.5 mm;
blades 5-20 cm long, 2-5 mm wide, stiffly ascending to erect, green to grayish-green, glabrous or densely pilose, apices long-tapering, lower blades shorter than the upper 2 or 3 blades.
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.
2-3.2 mm long, 0.8-1.4 mm wide, ellipsoid, not turgid, sparsely pubescent.
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.
0.6-1.1 mm, ovate-triangular;
upper glumes and lower lemmas exceeding the upper florets by about 0.2 mm before flowering, subequal in fruit, slightly pointed at maturity, upper florets 1.7-2.3 mm, ovoid-ellipsoid, 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 similar in shape to the lower cauline blades, narrow, ascending.
rosettes poorly differentiated;
blades usually large, ovate to lanceolate, often transitional to the cauline blades.
panicles 4-10 cm long, 2-6 cm wide, long-exserted, with 12-70 spikelets;
branches and pedicels spreading.
panicles 2-10 cm long, 0.5-7 cm wide, open or contracted, well-exserted.
= 18.
= 18.
Dichanthelium linearifolium
Dichanthelium aciculare
Dichanthelium linearifolium grows in dry, open woodlands, rock outcroppings, and sandy areas. It is restricted to the Flora region. The primary panicles are briefly open-pollinated, produced from May to early June; the secondary panicles are cleistogamous, produced from late June through July (rarely in fall). Plants in the northern United States and Canada tend to be shorter and more spreading, subglabrous, and to have spikelets 2-2.6 mm long; they have been called Panicum werneri Scribn., but do not merit taxonomic recognition. In the southwestern part of its range, especially in the Ozarks, most plants of D. linearifolium are tall, erect, densely pilose, with very elongated blades and spikelets often 2.6-3 mm long; they may hybridize with D. perlongum.
(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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