Panicum amarum
Panicum anceps
bitter beachgrass, bitter panicgrass, bitter panicum
beak panicgrass
20-250 cm tall, 3-10 mm thick, erect or decumbent, simple or branched from the lower nodes;
nodes glabrous;
internodes glabrous, glaucous.
30-130 cm, terete to slightly compressed.
shorter or longer than the internodes, not keeled, glabrous;
collars often glaucous and purplish;
ligules 1-5 mm;
blades 7-50 cm long, 2-13 mm wide, erect or ascending, firm, thick, flat basally, more or less involute towards the apices.
laterally compressed, glabrous or sparsely to densely pilose or villous, especially at the summit;
ligules less than 0.5 mm, membranous, erose, often brownish;
blades 10-50 cm long, 4-12 mm wide, erect, adaxial surfaces pilose at least basally, glabrous or pilose abaxially.
10-80 cm long, 2-17 cm wide, contracted, slightly nodding;
primary branches whorled or opposite, strongly ascending to appressed;
pedicels 0.5-15 mm, appressed to slightly divergent.
10-40 cm, 1/4 - 2/3 as wide as long, well-exserted at anthesis;
branches relatively few, stiffly spreading or ascending; ultimate branchlets 1-sided;
pedicels 0.1-3 mm, scabridulous to scabrous, appressed.
4-7.7 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, narrowly ovoid, glabrous, acuminate;
lower florets staminate.
2.3-3.9 mm, narrowly ellipsoid to ovoid, usually subsessile, usually pale to yellowish-green, glabrous, often falcate and gaping at the apices, rarely lanceolate, densely crowded on short, appressed branchlets, set obliquely on short pedicels.
and lower lemmas relatively thick;
lower glumes 2.8-4 mm, 1/2 - 4/5 as long as the spikelets, 3-9-veined, apices of the midveins sometimes scabridulous;
upper glumes and lower lemmas extending 1.5-3 mm beyond the upper florets, apices stiffly gaping;
upper glumes 3.9-7.6 mm, 5-9-veined;
lower lemmas slightly shorter than the upper glumes, 7-9-veined, lower paleas 3-7 mm, oblong-hastate, folded over the anthers;
lower florets staminate;
upper florets 2.4-3.9 mm long, 1-1.8 mm wide, narrowly ovoid to oblong, glabrous, smooth, shiny, lemma margins clasping the paleas only at the base.
glumes A-A as long as the spikelets, 3-veined, keels scabrous, apices acute;
upper glumes and lower lemmas subequal, keeled, beaked, usually gaping at the apices;
lower florets sterile;
lower paleas subequal to the lower lemmas;
upper florets 1.5-2.2 mm long, about 1 mm wide, 2/5 – 3/4 as long as the spikelets, apices with a tuft of minute, thick hairs;
upper lemmas thick, stiff, clasping the upper paleas throughout their length.
= 36, 54.
= 18, 36.
Panicum amarum
Panicum anceps
Panicum amarum grows in the coastal dunes, wet sandy soils, and the margins of swamps, along the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico from Connecticut to northeastern Mexico. It is also known, as an introduction, from a few inland locations in New Mexico, North Carolina, and West Virginia, as well as in the Bahamas and Cuba.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Panicum anceps grows in low, moist, primarily sandy areas, pine savannahs, the borders of flood-plain swamps, mesic woodlands, roadsides, and upland pine-hardwood forests. It is restricted to the United States.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Rhizomes short or ascending; culms often bunched and decumbent, usually more than 120 cm tall; lower glumes with 3-5 less evident veins, the midvein smooth distally; spikelet density high; panicles with 2 or more main branches per node; spikelets 4-5.9 mm long | subsp. amarulum |
1. Rhizomes horizontally elongate; culms mostly solitary, less than 150 cm tall; lower glumes with 7-9 prominent veins, the midvein scabridulous distally; spikelet density moderate; panicles with 1 or 2 main branches per node; spikelets 4.7-7.7 mm long | subsp. amarum |
1. Spikelets 2.7-3.9 mm long, often clearly falcate; rhizomes relatively short and stout | subsp. anceps |
1. Spikelets 2.3-2.8 mm long, not clearly falcate; rhizomes relatively long and slender | subsp. rhizomatum |
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