Panicum amarum |
Panicum miliaceum |
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bitter beachgrass, bitter panicgrass, bitter panicum |
broom-corn millet, broomcorn, hog millet, millet, millet commun, panic millet, proso millet |
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Habit | Plants perennial; rhizomatous, rhizomes stout, glabrous and glaucous throughout. | Plants annual; sometimes branching from the lower nodes. | ||||||||
Culms | 20-250 cm tall, 3-10 mm thick, erect or decumbent, simple or branched from the lower nodes; nodes glabrous; internodes glabrous, glaucous. |
20-210 cm, stout, not woody; nodes puberulent; internodes usually with papillose-based hairs, sometimes nearly glabrous, not succulent. |
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Sheaths | 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. |
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Leaves | numerous; sheaths terete, densely pilose, with papillose-based and caducous hairs; ligules membranous, ciliate, cilia 1-3 mm; blades 15-40 cm long, 7-25 mm wide. |
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Panicles | 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. |
6-20 cm long, 4-11 cm wide, included or shortly exserted at maturity, dense; branches stiff, appressed to spreading, spikelets solitary, confined to the distal portions; pedicels 1-9 mm, scabrous and sparsely pilose. |
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Spikelets | 4-7.7 mm long, 1.5-2 mm wide, narrowly ovoid, glabrous, acuminate; lower florets staminate. |
4-6 mm, ovoid, usually glabrous. |
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Glumes | 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. |
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Lower | glumes 2.8-3.6 mm, 1/2 - 3/4 as long as the spikelets, 5-7-veined, veins scabridulous distally, apices attenuate; upper glumes 4-5.1 mm, slightly exceeding the upper florets, 11-13(15)-veined, veins scabridulous distally; lower florets sterile; lower lemmas 4-4.8 mm, slightly exceeding the upper florets, 9-13-veined, veins scabridulous distally; lower paleas 1.2-1.6 mm, 1/2 or less the length of the upper florets, truncate to bilobed; upper florets 3-3.8 mm long, 2-2.5 mm wide, smooth or striate, more or less shiny, stramineous to orange, red-brown, or blackish, persisting in the spikelets or disarticulating at maturity. |
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2n | = 36, 54. |
= 36, 40, 42, 49, 54, 72. |
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Panicum amarum |
Panicum miliaceum |
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Distribution |
AL; CT; DE; FL; GA; LA; MA; MD; MS; NC; NJ; NM; NY; PA; RI; SC; TX; VA; WV
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AL; AZ; CA; CO; CT; DC; DE; FL; GA; IA; ID; IL; IN; KS; KY; LA; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; MS; MT; NC; ND; NE; NH; NJ; NM; NV; NY; OH; OR; PA; RI; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WY; HI; PR; AB; BC; LB; MB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Virgin Islands
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Discussion | 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 miliaceum is native to Asia, where it has been cultivated for thousands of years. In the Flora region, it is grown for bird seed and is occasionally planted for game birds. It is also found in corn fields and along roadsides. In Asia, P. miliaceum is still grown for fodder and as a cereal, its fast germination and short growth period enabling it to be sown following a spring crop. It also has one of the lowest water requirements of any cereal grain. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 472. | FNA vol. 25, p. 456. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Panicum > subg. Panicum > sect. Repentia | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Panicum > subg. Panicum > sect. Panicum | ||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Name authority | Elliott | L. | ||||||||
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