Panicum philadelphicum |
Panicum sect. Panicum |
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panic de philadelphie, Philadelphia panic grass, Philadelphia witchgrass |
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Habit | Plants annual; hirsute, hairs papillose-based, usually yellow-green to green, sometimes purplish. | Plants annual or perennial; perennials usually cespitose, sometimes shortly rhizomatous. | ||||||||
Culms | 8-100 cm tall, about 1 mm thick, erect to decumbent, simple to profusely branched; nodes sparsely to densely pilose. |
2-300 cm, erect or decumbent, not succulent, sometimes almost woody at the base, often branching from the lower nodes. |
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Sheaths | not compressed. |
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Leaves | often crowded basally; sheaths rounded, usually longer than the internodes, hispid, hairs papillose-based, to 5 mm; ligules 0.5-1.5 mm; blades 3-30 cm long, 2-12 mm wide, linear, ascending to erect, flat, hirsute to sparsely pilose, greenish or purplish, bases truncate to subcordate and ciliate on the margins, apices acute. |
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Panicles | 7-27 cm long, 4-24 cm wide, 1/4 - 1/3 as long as the plants, diffuse, usually exserted at anthesis, not breaking at the base of the peduncles to become a tumbleweed; rachises glabrous or sparsely pilose basally; primary branches spreading, secondary branches and pedicels confined to the distal 2/3 secondary branches diverging to appressed, with 1-4 spikelets; pedicels 3-15 mm, spreading to appressed, scabrous or hirsute; pulvini glabrous or pilose. |
usually lax and diffuse; pedicels divergent. |
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Spikelets | 1.4-2.4 mm long, 0.5-0.7 mm wide, usually green, glabrous. |
ellipsoid to lanceoloid, glabrous. |
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Lower glumes | 0.5-0.9 mm, usually less than 1/2 as long as the spikelets, 3-4-veined, truncate to acuminate; upper glumes 1.6-2 mm, 7-veined, veins not prominent; lower lemmas 1.6-1.9 mm, 7-9-veined, veins not prominent; lower paleas absent; lower florets sterile; upper florets 1.5-1.7 mm long, about 0.4 mm wide, often dark brown, sometimes disarticulating, apices minutely papillose. |
(1/3)1/2 - 3/4 as long as the spikelets, (3)5-7-veined, truncate, obtuse, acute, or acuminate; lower paleas present or absent. |
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2n | = 18. |
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Panicum philadelphicum |
Panicum sect. Panicum |
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Distribution |
AL; AR; CT; DC; DE; GA; IA; IL; IN; KS; KY; MA; MD; ME; MI; MN; MO; NC; NH; NJ; NY; OH; OK; PA; RI; SC; TN; TX; VA; VT; WI; WV; NB; NS; ON; QC
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Discussion | Panicum philadelphicum grows in open areas such as fallow fields, roadside ditches, receding shores, and rock crevices. It is restricted to the eastern part of the Flora region. It intergrades with P. capillare, possibly as a result of hybridization, especially in the southeastern United States. Seeds germinating on receding shores in late summer often produce tiny plants. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Panicum sect. Panicum includes approximately 22 species and extends from the southern United States to Argentina. Most species grow in dry, open places, but a few grow in moist sites such as river banks. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 25, p. 459. | 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 | ||||||||
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Subordinate taxa | ||||||||||
Synonyms | P. tuckermanii | |||||||||
Name authority | Bernh. ex Trin. | unknown | ||||||||
Web links |