Panicum brachyanthum
Panicum gymnocarpon
prairie panicgrass
slender, wiry, glabrous, often with minute purple streaks and dots, ascending from a decumbent base, often branching extensively at the base and rooting at the lower nodes.
60-130 cm, thick, glabrous, rooting profusely at the lower nodes;
nodes glabrous, often with a dark green band.
usually shorter than the internodes, glabrous, margins short-ciliate;
ligules usually less than 0.3 mm, membranous, erose, ciliate;
blades 4-15 cm long (rarely longer), 2-3 mm wide, flat or slightly involute, glabrous on both surfaces, margins scabridulous, especially towards the apices, bases narrowed.
usually shorter than the internodes, glabrous, prominently veined;
ligules 0.5-1.5 mm;
blades 15-40 cm long, 7-25 mm wide, tapering from midlength, flat, both surfaces glabrous, bases subcordate, margins scabrous to smooth, widest at the base, apices acute.
4-17 cm, 1/2 to nearly as wide as long;
branches few, capillary, ascending or spreading, scabridulous, with a few spikelets distally;
pedicels 0.5-10 mm.
10-40 cm long, 7-20 cm wide, open, with straight, rigid rachises;
branches whorled, stiffly ascending, with short, appressed, higher order branches; ultimate branchlets 1-sided, with solitary spikelets or small clusters of spikelets;
pedicels 0.1-1.5 mm.
3.2-4 mm long, about 1.5 mm wide, broadly ellipsoid or obovoid, tuberculate, hispid, faintly veined, acute or acuminate at the apices.
5.5-7 mm long, about 1 mm wide, narrowly lanceoloid, glabrous.
spreading apart at maturity, keeled, prominently veined, scabrous along the midveins;
lower glumes nearly as long as the lower lemmas;
upper glumes and lower lemmas 3-veined, spreading, greatly exceeding the upper florets, lower lemmas longer than the upper glumes, arcuate;
lower florets sterile;
lower paleas thin;
upper florets 1.9-2.2 mm, less than 1/3 as long as the spikelets, obovoid, lustrous, pale to brownish, acute, often short-stipitate.
usually less than 1 mm, obtuse or acute;
upper glumes and lower lemmas subequal, distinctly tuberculate, hispid, with stiff hairs arising from wartlike bases;
upper florets 2.7-3.2 mm long, 1.3-1.6 mm wide, obovoid or ellipsoid, nearly smooth, minutely papillose, or cross-rugulose, subacute to acute.
= unknown.
= 40.
Panicum brachyanthum
Panicum gymnocarpon
Panicum brachyanthum grows in dry, sandy or clayey soils of open areas, remnant prairies, woodland borders, and roadsides and, less commonly, along the margins of bogs and on grassy shores in the western portion of the gulf coast plain. It is restricted to the southern United States. It resembles P. verrucosum in its growth habit, but is more restricted in its distribution.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Panicum gymnocarpon grows in swamps, wet woodlands, and the marshy shores of lakes and streams. It is also found occasionally in shallow water, often in the shade. It is restricted to the United States.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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