Dichanthelium strigosum
Dichanthelium boscii
cushion-tuft panicgrass, roughhair rosette grass
Bosc's panic grass, Bosc's rosette-panicgrass, panic de Bosc
5-45 cm, slender, erect or spreading;
from a dense tuft of predominantly basal leaves, lower internodes short, upper 3-5 internodes elongate;
nodes glabrous or bearded;
internodes glabrous or pilose;
fall phase with spreading culms and branches arising from near the bases forming a dense, flat tuft.
25-75 cm, initially erect, often sprawling in the fall, nodes densely retrorsely bearded;
internodes glabrous, or pilose with papillose-based hairs;
fall phase branching from the midculm nodes, branches nearly erect, sparsely rebranching, blades and secondary panicles only slightly reduced.
2-4;
lower cauline sheaths longer than the internodes, mostly glabrous or pilose with ascending hairs, margins finely ciliate;
ligules 0.2-2 mm, at low magnification appearing to be membranous and ciliate, at high magnification evidently of hairs that are coherent at the base;
blades 1.5-6 cm long, 3-8 mm wide, lanceolate, glabrous or softly pilose, margins with prominent papillose-based cilia, at least basally.
4-6, often with a transitional leaf above the basal rosette;
sheaths not overlapping, bases puberulent to retrorsely pilose, margins ciliate, collars pubescent;
ligules 0.4-0.9 mm, membranous, ciliate, cilia longer than the membranous portion;
blades 3-6 times longer than wide, 15-40 mm wide, ovate-lanceolate, glabrous, puberulent, or pilose, with 11-15 major veins and 40-120 minor veins, bases cordate, margins with papillose-based cilia.
4-12 cm long, 4-12 cm wide, about as long as wide when fully expanded, partially included to tardily exserted, with 16-60 spikelets.
1.1-2.1 mm, obovoid to broadly ellipsoid, glabrous or pubescent, hairs not papillose-based.
3.8-5.2 mm long, 1.7-2.2 mm wide, narrowly ellipsoid, pubescent or puberulent.
1/3 - 1/2 as long as the spikelets, acute to obtuse;
upper florets 0.8-1.7 mm, ellipsoid, subacute.
1/3 – 1/2 as long as the spikelets, narrowly triangular;
upper glumes shorter than the spikelets;
lower florets usually staminate;
upper florets pointed, with a minute tuft of hairs.
rosettes poorly differentiated;
blades 1-5 cm, lanceolate, grading into the cauline blades.
rosettes well-differentiated;
sheaths pubescent;
blades ovate to lanceolate, dark green.
panicles short- to long-exserted;
rachises and branches often pilose.
= 18,36.
Dichanthelium strigosum
Dichanthelium boscii
Dichanthelium strigosum extends from the southeastern Flora region south into Mexico, the Caribbean, and into northern South America.
The primary panicles are briefly open-pollinated in April or May; the secondary panicles, which are produced from May through November, are cleistogamous. The three subspecies are mostly sympatric and sometimes grow together, with occasional intergradation.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Dichanthelium boscii usually grows in semi-open areas in dry oak-hickory woods of the eastern United States. The primary panicles are open-pollinated and are produced from late April through June (and sometimes again in the fall); the secondary panicles are partly open-pollinated, and are produced from July through September.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Spikelets pubescent, broadly ellipsoid, 1.6-2.1 mm long; lower glumes about 1/2 as long as the spikelets; blades glabrous | subsp. leucoblepharis |
1. Spikelets glabrous, obovoid, 1.1-1.8 mm long; lower glumes about 1/3 as long as the spikelets; blades pilose or glabrous. | → 2 |
2. Blades pilose; spikelets 1.1-1.6 mm long | subsp. strigosum |
2. Blades glabrous or sparsely pilose near the base; spikelets 1.4-1.8 mm long | subsp. glabrescens |
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