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cushion-tuft panicgrass, roughhair rosette grass

Habit Plants densely cespitose. Plants densely cespitose, with caudices.
Culms

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.

5-55 cm, slender, erect to spreading, lower internodes short, upper 3-5 internodes elongate;

fall phase usually forming a dense cushion.

Cauline leaves

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.

2-4;

ligules membranous, ciliate;

blades soft, green to yellowish, margins usually ciliate.

Spikelets

1.1-2.1 mm, obovoid to broadly ellipsoid, glabrous or pubescent, hairs not papillose-based.

1.1-2.3 mm, broadly ellipsoid to obovoid, glabrous or pubescent.

Lower glumes

1/3 - 1/2 as long as the spikelets, acute to obtuse;

upper florets 0.8-1.7 mm, ellipsoid, subacute.

Basal

rosettes poorly differentiated;

blades 1-5 cm, lanceolate, grading into the cauline blades.

rosettes poorly differentiated;

blades scarcely separable from the crowded lower cauline blades.

Primary

panicles short- to long-exserted;

rachises and branches often pilose.

panicles exserted at maturity.

Upper

florets subacute or minutely umbonate.

Dichanthelium strigosum

Dichanthelium sect. Strigosa

Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TN; TX; VA; PR
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

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.)

Key
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
Source FNA vol. 25, p. 446. FNA vol. 25, p. 446.
Parent taxa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Dichanthelium > sect. Strigosa Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Dichanthelium
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. portoricense, D. ravenelii, D. scabriusculum, D. scoparium, D. sphaerocarpon, D. tenue, D. wilcoxianum, D. wrightianum, D. ×anthophysum
Subordinate taxa
D. strigosum subsp. glabrescens, D. strigosum subsp. leucoblepharis, D. strigosum subsp. strigosum
Synonyms Panicum strigosum
Name authority (Muhl. ex Elliott) Freckmann Freckmann & Lelong
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