Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Hairy dichanthelium

HAIRY DICHANTHELIUM

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Dichanthelium acuminatum (Sw. ) Gould & C.A. Clark var. acuminatum

[=Panicum acuminatum Sw. var. acuminatum ]

Comanche County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 8-24 inches

Family: Poaceae - Grass Family

Flowering Period: May, June

Also Called:

Woolly rosette grass, woolly panic grass.

Culms:

Erect or ascending, simple initially, often branching with age, stiff, usually pubescent, olive-green to purplish, nodes bearded with spreading hairs.

Blades:

Firm, erect or ascending, variously pubescent with ascending to spreading hairs or rarely nearly glabrous, olive-green to purplish; stem blades mostly 1.6 to 4 inches long, 1/5 to 1/3 inch wide, those of later branches shorter, narrower, more crowded; rosette blades shorter, broad.

Sheaths:

Shorter than internodes, densely long-hairy.

Ligules:

Conspicuous fringe of hairs 1/12 to 1/5 inch long.

Inflorescences:

Panicle, pyramidal early, 1.2 to 3.6 inches long, nearly as wide, usually purplish; branches ascending or spreading, often long-hairy.

Spikelets:

Ovate to elliptic, to 1/10 inch long, usually pubescent; first glume about 1/3 as long as spikelet; second glume and sterile lemma nearly equal.

Habitat:

Prairies and open woods; sandy soils.

Distribution:

East 2/3 of Kansas.