Kansas Wildflowers and Grasses - Velvet dichanthelium

VELVET DICHANTHELIUM

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Dichanthelium scoparium (Lam. ) Gould

[=Panicum scoparium Lam.]

Cherokee County, Kansas

Perennial

Height: 16-52 inches

Family: Poaceae - Grass Family

Flowering Period: June, July, August, September

Also Called:

Velvet panicum, velvet rosette grass.

Culms:

Solitary or few, erect or genticulate at base, stout, forming tufts, initially unbranched, becoming much-branched later in summer and autumn; nodes densely bearded with long hairs, broad glabrous or viscid-glandular band below each node, culm otherwise velvety pubescent.

Blades:

Lanceolate, 2 to 10 inches long, 1/4 to 4/5 inch wide, base rounded, surfaces grey velvety pubescent, tip tapering to sharp point; rosette dense, blades shorter, culm blades longer, narrower.

Sheaths:

Loose, sticky-glandular along middle of back, otherwise gray velvety pubescent.

Ligules:

Inconspicuous line or band of minute hairs.

Inflorescences:

Panicle,often shorter than blade, ovoid in outline, 2.4 to 6 inches; branches spreading to loosely ascending, mostly rebranched; secondary panicles reduced.

Spikelets:

Appearing long-stalked at ends of branches; obovate, .08 to .1 inch, softly pubescent, apiculate; first glume 1/4 to 5/8 as long as spikelet, broadly ovate, tip sharply pointed; second glume and lower lemma nearly equal, ca. as long as spikelet.

Habitat:

Moist sandy woods and low areas, roadsides, fallow fields, bottomland and upland prairies.

Distribution:

East 1/5 of Kansas

Origin:

Native

Comments:

Later in the growing season, the culms sprawl over surrounding vegetation, are much-branched and rebranched from the middle and upper nodes, and the blades are progressively reduced.

Velvet dichanthelium inflorescence