Zizaniopsis miliacea
giant cutgrass, water millet
1-4 m tall, to 3.5 cm thick, erect or decumbent, glabrous, readily rooting at the nodes when decumbent and producing leafy buds.
thick, glabrous;
ligules to 2 cm, glabrous;
blades to 1 m long, 6-30 mm wide, sometimes scabrous, bluish-green, margins scabrous.
to 80+ cm long, usually 4-20 cm wide, open;
pedicels to 10 mm long, apices 0.1-0.4 mm wide.
2.5-4 mm long, 1-2 mm wide, ellipsoid or obovoid, smooth, lustrous, beaked by the persistent style base.
lemmas 5-10 mm, lanceolate to elliptic, glabrous, acuminate or awned, awns to 2 mm;
paleas acuminate or awned, awns to 1 mm;
anthers 2.5-5 mm.
lemmas 4-8 mm, ovate or elliptic, awned, awns to 9 mm;
paleas caudate-acuminate or awned, awns to 1 mm;
style bases 1-3 mm, stigmas 2-6 mm, conspicuously exserted.
= 24.
Zizaniopsis miliacea
Zizaniopsis miliacea grows in shallow, fresh- or brackish-water marshes, swamps, streams, lakes, and ditches. It is most common on the eastern coastal plain of the United States, extending south to Florida and west to Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas. It has also been reported growing as a disjunct in central Mexico (McVaugh 1983).
Fox and Haller (2000) found that decumbent flowering culms readily produce roots and axillary shoots at the nodes. The decumbent culms act as functional stolons, allowing for rapid colonization; thus plants become established up to 3-4 m away from the parent plant.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
IL Wildflowers
LA Plants
MD Biodiversity
MO Plants
WildflowerSearch
iNaturalist
USDA Plants Database
