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blunt-glumed panicgrass

Photo is of parent taxon
Habit Plants usually densely cespitose.
Culms

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.

15-40 cm, glabrous or puberulent.

Sheaths

glabrous or puberulent;

cauline blades 2-5 cm long, 2.5-4.5 mm wide, usually puberulent abaxially and glabrous adaxially.

Cauline leaves

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.

Spikelets

1.5-2.6 mm, obovoid-pyriform, planoconvex in side view, puberulent, pubescent, or glabrous, attenuate basally, apices usually broadly rounded.

1.5-2.0 mm, puberulent to nearly glabrous.

Lower glumes

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.

Basal

rosettes well-differentiated;

blades 1.5-6 cm, ovate to lanceolate.

Primary

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 2-4.5 cm.

2n

= 18.

Dichanthelium portoricense

Dichanthelium portoricense subsp. portoricense

Distribution
from USDA
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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 portoricense subsp. portoricense is more common than subsp. patulum in coastal sand dunes. It also grows in sandy pinelands and savannahs. It resembles D. aciculare somewhat, but that species usually has ascending-pilose culms, strongly involute or acicular blades, and longer spikelets.

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

Key
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
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 441. FNA vol. 25, p. 442.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Dichanthelium > sect. Lancearia Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Dichanthelium > sect. Lancearia > Dichanthelium portoricense
Sibling taxa
D. aciculare, D. acuminatum, D. boreale, 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. ravenelii, D. scabriusculum, D. scoparium, D. sphaerocarpon, D. strigosum, D. tenue, D. wilcoxianum, D. wrightianum, D. ×anthophysum
D. portoricense subsp. patulum
Subordinate taxa
D. portoricense subsp. patulum, D. portoricense subsp. portoricense
Synonyms Panicum portoricense
Name authority (Desv. ex Ham.) B.E Hansen & Wunderlin unknown
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