Whitegrass

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Whitegrass leaf

Whitegrass ligule

Whitegrass spikelets

Whitegrass culm node

Whitegrass

Whitegrass culm nodes

Whitegrass inflorescence

Whitegrass

Whitegrass

Morphology

Culm

Erect or often decumbent, slender, weak, hollow, often flattened, spreading, straggling, much branched, sometimes rooting at lower nodes; nodes conspicuous, pubescent.

Blades

Several per culm, flat, 2 to 8 inches long, 1/8 to 1/2 inch wide, thin, narrowed towards base; surfaces glabrous or somewhat rough; margins with fine and inconspicuous stiff hairs; tip tapering to point.

Sheath

Mostly shorter than internodes, keeled, flattened, smooth or rough.

Ligule

Membranous, 1/25 to 1/16 inch long, often jagged.

Inflorescence

Terminal panicles, open, 2.8 to 8 inches long; axillary panicles sometimes partly included in leaf sheaths; branches few, spike-like, loosely ascending; lower panicle branches solitary.

Spikelets

Numerous, flat, closely pressed against 1 side of branches, minutely stalked, 1-flowered, oblong to narrowly elliptic, 1/10 to 1/6 inch long, about 1/25 inch wide; glumes absent; lemmas boat-shaped, awnless, usually with a fringe of hairs along keel and margins.

Ecology

Habitat

Moist or wet woods, stream banks, ditches

Distribution

East 4/5 of Kansas

Additional Notes