Panicum anceps
Panicum bulbosum
beak panicgrass
bulb panicgrass
30-130 cm, terete to slightly compressed.
50-200 cm tall, 2-3(5) mm thick, with cormlike bases, slightly compressed, erect or geniculate at the lower nodes;
nodes glabrous or pilose;
internodes slightly compressed, glabrous.
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.
longer or shorter than the internodes, keeled, glabrous or pilose, hairs papillose-based near the throat;
ligules 0.5-2 mm, membranous, dissected ciliate;
blades (6)20-65 cm long, 2-15 mm wide, flat, adaxial surfaces glabrous or densely pubescent, particularly basally, occasionally pubescent on both surfaces, hairs papillose-based, bases subcordate to rounded.
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.
9-50 cm long, 1.5-12 cm wide, open;
branches opposite and alternate, straight or flexible, strongly ascending to reflexed;
pedicels 0.5-5 mm, scabridulous, divergent.
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.
2.8-4.2(5.4) mm long, 1-2 mm wide, ellipsoid or lanceoloid, often purplish, glabrous, acute or obtuse.
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.
1.2-3.5 mm, 1/2 - 4/5 as long as the spikelets, 3-5-veined;
upper glumes often longer than the lower lemmas, glabrous, 5-7-veined;
lower florets sterile or staminate;
lower lemmas glabrous;
lower paleas 3-4 mm, sometimes longer than the lower lemmas;
upper florets 3-4 mm long, 1-1.5 mm wide, equaling or surpassing the lower lemmas, dull, pale, finely transversely rugose, lemma apices puberulent.
= 18, 36.
= 36, 54, 70, 72.
Panicum anceps
Panicum bulbosum
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.)
Panicum bulbosum grows on gravelly river banks and moist mountain slopes, often in ponderosa pine woodlands, from southern Nevada and Arizona to western Texas and central Mexico. It is an important forage grass and is sometimes cut for hay. Flowering is from July to mid-October. Small plants have been called P. bulbosum var. sciaphilum (Rupr. ex E. Fourn.) Hitchc. & Chase or P. bulbosum var. minor Vasey, but size and other characters integrade completely.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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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