Panicum brachyanthum
Panicum hirsutum
prairie panicgrass
giant witchgrass, hairy 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.
100-300 cm tall, 4-10 mm thick, decumbent, semi-woody at the base, simple or branching from the middle nodes, prophylls prominent, to 15 cm;
nodes contracted, pilose, sericeous;
internodes glabrous or with papillose-based hairs below the nodes.
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.
shorter or longer than the internodes, rounded, sparsely hispid, hairs papillose-based, thick, fragile, penetrating and irritating the skin when handled, margins glabrous or ciliate;
collars more densely pubescent than the sheaths, hairs papillose-based;
ligules 1.5-2 mm, with longer hairs immediately behind, growing from the base of the blades;
blades 20-50 cm long, 15-40 mm wide, spreading, flat or with involute margins, bases subcordate to cordate, margins glabrous or sparsely hairy.
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.
terminal, 25-45 cm long, 5-15 cm wide, lax, contracted to diffuse, not breaking at the base and becoming tumbleweeds, all or most secondary branches confined to the distal 1/3;
lower branches whorled;
pedicels 0.5-2 mm, appressed.
3.2-4 mm long, about 1.5 mm wide, broadly ellipsoid or obovoid, tuberculate, hispid, faintly veined, acute or acuminate at the apices.
1.8-2.5 mm long, 0.5-1 mm wide, narrowly ellipsoid, glabrous.
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.
0.7-1.4 mm, about 1/2 as long as the spikelets, 3-5-veined, acute to attenuate;
upper glumes and lower lemmas subequal, about as long as the spikelets, 7-11-veined;
lower florets sterile;
lower paleas 1.3-1.7 mm;
upper florets 1.2-1.6 mm long, 0.5-0.7 mm wide, glabrous, smooth, shiny, chestnut brown to dark brown.
= unknown.
= 36.
Panicum brachyanthum
Panicum hirsutum
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 hirsutum grows along river banks or in ditches, often among shrubs in partial shade. Its range extends from southern Texas through eastern Mexico, Central America, Cuba, and the West Indies to Ecuador, Brazil, and Argentina.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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