Panicum capillare |
Panicum miliaceum |
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common panicgrass, common witchgrass, old witch grass, panic capillaire, witch grass, witch panicgrass |
broom-corn millet, broomcorn, hog millet, millet, millet commun, panic millet, proso millet |
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Habit | Plants annual; hirsute or hispid, hairs papillose-based, often bluish or purplish. | Plants annual; sometimes branching from the lower nodes. | ||||||||
Culms | 15-130 cm, slender to stout, not woody, erect to decumbent, straight to zigzag, simple to profusely branched; nodes sparsely to densely pilose. |
20-210 cm, stout, not woody; nodes puberulent; internodes usually with papillose-based hairs, sometimes nearly glabrous, not succulent. |
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Sheaths | rounded, hirsute or hispid, hairs papillose-based; ligules membranous, ciliate, cilia 0.5-1.5 mm; blades 5-40 cm long, 3-18 mm wide, linear, spreading. |
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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 | 13-50 cm long, 7-24 cm wide, usually more than 1/2 as long as the plants, included at the base or exserted at maturity, disarticulating at the base of the peduncles at maturity and becoming a tumbleweed; branches spreading; pedicels 0.5-2.8 mm, scabrous, pilose. |
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 | 1.9-4 mm, ellipsoid to lanceoloid, often red-purple, glabrous. |
4-6 mm, ovoid, usually glabrous. |
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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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Lower | florets sterile; lower glumes 1/3– 1/2 as long as the spikelets, 1-3-veined; upper glumes 1.8-3.1 mm, 7-9-veined, midveins scabridulous; lower lemmas 1.9-3 mm, extending 0.4-1.1 mm beyond the upper florets, often stiff, straight, prominently veined distally; upper florets stramineous or nigrescent, sometimes with a prominent lunate scar at the base, often disarticulating before the glumes, leaving the empty glumes and lower lemmas temporarily persisting on the panicles. |
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2n | = 18. |
= 36, 40, 42, 49, 54, 72. |
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Panicum capillare |
Panicum miliaceum |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; 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; OK; OR; PA; RI; SC; SD; TN; TX; UT; VA; VT; WA; WI; WV; WY; AB; BC; MB; NB; NS; ON; PE; QC; SK; Virgin Islands
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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 capillare grows in open areas, particularly in disturbed sites such as fields, pastures, roadsides, waste places, ditches, sand, and rock crevices, etc. It grows throughout temperate North America, including northern Mexico. It also grows in Bermuda, the Virgin Islands, and sporadically in South America, and has become naturalized in much of Europe and Asia. It appears to hybridize with P. philadelphicum. (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. | FNA vol. 25, p. 456. | ||||||||
Parent taxa | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Panicum > subg. Panicum > sect. Panicum | Poaceae > subfam. Panicoideae > tribe Paniceae > Panicum > subg. Panicum > sect. Panicum | ||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||
Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Name authority | L. | L. | ||||||||
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