Dichanthelium portoricense
Dichanthelium erectifolium
blunt-glumed panicgrass
erect-leaf panicgrass, Florida panicgrass
15-50 cm, slender, wiry;
internodes olive green to purplish, densely puberulent or glabrous;
fall phase spreading or decumbent, branching extensively from the lower and midculm nodes, producing numerous congested fascicles of reduced, flat or involute blades and reduced secondary panicles.
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.
4-7;
sheaths much shorter than the internodes, densely crisp-puberulent, velvety-puberulent, or glabrous, often ciliate along the margins;
ligules shorter than 0.5 mm;
blades 2-7 cm long (seldom longer), 2.5-8 mm wide (rarely wider), spreading, firm, flat or slightly involute, without prominently raised veins, not longitudinally wrinkled, densely puberulent or glabrous abaxially, glabrous, sparsely puberulent, or pubescent adaxially, bases subcordate, with papillose-based cilia, margins often whitish and scabridulous.
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.
1.5-2.6 mm, obovoid-pyriform, planoconvex in side view, puberulent, pubescent, or glabrous, attenuate basally, apices usually broadly rounded.
1-1.4 mm, broadly obovoid-spherical, puberulent to subglabrous.
0.6-1.4 mm, thin, weakly-veined, attached about 0.2 mm below the upper glumes, clasping at the base;
upper glumes as long as or slightly shorter than the lower lemmas;
upper florets 1.4-2 mm, broadly ellipsoid, apices subacute, minutely puberulent.
0.2-0.4 mm, acute, upper florets 0.8-1.1 mm, broadly ellipsoid, minutely umbonate.
rosettes well-differentiated;
blades 1.5-6 cm, ovate to lanceolate.
rosettes well-differentiated;
blades numerous, to 15 cm, lowest blades ovate, upper blades lanceolate, grading into the cauline blades.
panicles 2-7 cm long, 2/3 to nearly as wide as long, with relatively few spikelets, exserted;
branches flexuous, spreading or reflexed, scabridulous to densely puberulent.
panicles 5-14 cm, 1/2 - 2/3 as wide as long, exserted.
= 18.
= unknown.
Dichanthelium portoricense
Dichanthelium erectifolium
Dichanthelium portoricense grows in sandy woods, low pinelands, savannahs, and coastal sand dunes, usually in moist places. Its range extends south from the Flora region into Mexico, the Caribbean, and Mesoamerica. It is a highly variable species with numerous intergrading forms, some possibly resulting from hybridization with other widespread species in the same region, such as D. sphaerocarpon and D. commutatum.
(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.)
1. Spikelets 1.8-2.6 mm long, usually densely pubescent or puberulent (rarely glabrous); cauline blades 4-7 cm long, 3.5-8 mm wide | subsp. patulum |
1. Spikelets 1.5-2.0 mm long, puberulent to nearly glabrous; cauline blades 2-5 cm long, 2.5-4.5 mm wide | subsp. portoricense |
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