Panicum virgatum
Panicum hallii
panic raide, switch grass, switch panicgrass
Hall panicum, Hall's panic, Hall's panicgrass, Hall's panicum, Hall's witchgrass
40-300 cm tall, 3-5 mm thick, solitary or forming dense clumps, erect or decumbent, usually simple;
nodes glabrous;
internodes hard, glabrous or glaucous, green or purplish.
10-100 cm, 2-10 mm thick, erect, simple or sparingly branched basally;
nodes sericeous, pilose or glabrous;
internodes usually glaucous.
longer than the lower internodes, shorter than those above, glabrous or pilose, especially on the throat, margins usually ciliate;
ligules 2-6 mm;
blades 10-60 cm long, 2-15 mm wide, flat, erect, ascending or spreading, glabrous or pubescent, adaxial surfaces sometimes densely pubescent, particularly basally, bases rounded to slightly narrowed, margins scabrous.
often crowded basally;
sheaths rounded, glabrous or hirsute, hairs fragile, papillose-based, margins sometimes ciliate distally;
ligules 0.6-2 mm;
blades 4-23 cm long, 1-10 mm wide, erect to spreading, flat or sometimes involute (on sterile branches), often curling at maturity, glaucous, abaxial surfaces sometimes with prominent papillae along the midribs, bases rounded or narrowing to the sheaths, margins cartilaginous, ciliate basally, scabridulous elsewhere, apices acute.
10-55 cm long, 4-20 cm wide, exserted, open;
primary branches thin, straight, solitary to whorled or fascicled, ascending to spreading, scabrous, usually rebranching once;
pedicels 0.5-20 mm, appressed to spreading.
2.5-8 mm long, 1.2-2.5 mm wide, narrowly lanceoloid, turgid to slightly laterally compressed, glabrous, acuminate.
2.1-4.2 mm long, 0.8-1 mm wide, usually ovoid, glabrous.
glumes 1.8-3.2 mm, 1/2 - 4/5 as long as the spikelets, glabrous, 5-9-veined, acuminate;
upper glumes and lower lemmas extending 0.4-3 mm beyond the upper florets, 7-11-veined, strongly gaping at the apices;
lower florets staminate;
lower paleas 3-3.5 mm, ovate-hastate, lateral lobes folded over the anthers before anthesis;
upper florets 2.3-3 mm long, 0.8-1.1 mm wide, narrowly ovoid, smooth, glabrous, shiny;
upper lemmas clasping the paleas only at the base.
glumes 1.2-2.4 mm, 1/2 - 3/4 as long as the spikelets, attenuate;
upper glumes and lower lemmas similar, 7-11-veined, acuminate, extending 0.3-1.2 mm beyond the upper florets;
lower florets sterile;
lower paleas 0.8-2 mm;
upper florets 1.5-2.4 mm long, 0.7-1.2 mm wide, ovoid to ellipsoid, smooth, nigrescent.
panicles 7-31 cm long, 3-15 cm wide;
rachises glabrous, tending to break at maturity;
branches usually alternate, slender, stiff, ascending to divergent;
pedicels 1-15 mm, appressed.
= 18, 21, 25, 30, 32, 35, 36, 54-60, 67-72, 74, 77, 90, 108.
= 18.
Panicum virgatum
Panicum hallii
Panicum virgatum grows in tallgrass prairies, especially mesic to wet types where it is a major component of the vegetation, and on dry slopes, sand, open oak or pine woodlands, shores, river banks, and brackish marshes. Its range extends, primarily on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains, from southern Canada through the United States to Mexico, Cuba, Bermuda, and Costa Rica, and, possibly as an introduction, in Argentina. It has also been introduced as a forage grass to other parts of the world.
Panicum virgatum is an important and palatable forage grass, but its abundance in native grasslands decreases with grazing. Several types are planted for range and wildlife habitat improvement. Plants from eastern New Mexico, western Texas, and northern Mexico tend to have larger spikelets (6-8 mm versus 2.5-5.5 mm) and are sometimes called P. havardii Vasey Tetraploids appear to be the most common ploidy level, especially in the upper midwest and northern plains, with higher ploidy levels being more common southwards, but plants in a small area can range from diploid through duodecaploid, with dysploid derivatives. If morphological markers matched chromosome numbers and ecotypic characters, the species could be considered an aggregate of numerous microspecies. In the absence of such correlations, it must be regarded as simply a wide-ranging, highly variable taxon. Plants identified as Panicum virgatum var. cubense Griseb. and P. virgatum var. spissum Linder represent end points of geographic clines.
Panicum virgatum is not always readily separable from P. amarum, particularly P. amarum subsp. amarulum; future work may support their treatment as conspecific taxa.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Panicum hallii grows on sandy, gravelly, or rocky land, including roadsides, pastures, rangeland, oak and pine savannahs, chaparral, and moist areas in deserts and on mesas. Its range extends from the southwestern United States to southern Mexico.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
1. Spikelets 3-4.2 mm long; panicles usually greatly exceeding the blades, with a few spikelets; blades clustered near the base of the plants, ascending, often curling at maturity | subsp. hallii |
1. Spikelets 2.1-3 mm long; panicles scarcely exceeding the blades, with relatively crowded spikelets; blades not clustered near the base of the plants, lax, spreading, not curled | subsp. filipes |
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