| Section 5 » Family Poaceae |
Show/Hide Synonym
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| Dichanthelium annulum | < | Panicum dichotomum | Gleason and Cronquist (1991) | | | Dichanthelium annulum | < | Panicum dichotomum | Godfrey and Wooten (1979, 1981) | | | Dichanthelium annulum | < | Panicum dichotomum | Radford, Ahles, and Bell (1968) | | | Dichanthelium annulum | = | Panicum annulum | Fernald (1950) | | | Dichanthelium annulum | = | Panicum annulum | Hitchcock & Chase (Manual of US Grasses) | | | Dichanthelium annulum | = | Panicum annulum | Small (1933, 1938) | | | Dichanthelium annulum | = | Panicum annulum var. annulum | Gleason (1952) | | | Dichanthelium annulum | < | Dichanthelium dichotomum ssp. mattamuskeetense | Flora of North America (1993b, 1997, 2000, 2002a, 2002b, 2003a, 2004b, 2005, 2006a, 2006b, 2006c, 2007a, 2009, 2010) | | | Dichanthelium annulum | < | Dichanthelium dichotomum | Kartesz (1999) | | | Dichanthelium annulum | < | Dichanthelium dichotomum | Thomas (2008). The treatment of Dichanthelium sect. Lanuginosa (=D. acuminatum group) is based cl | | | Dichanthelium annulum | < | Panicum dichotomum var. mattamuskeetense | Thomas (2008). The treatment of Dichanthelium sect. Lanuginosa (=D. acuminatum group) is based cl | | | Source: Weakley's Flora |
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| Author | (Ashe) LeBlond | |
| Distribution | Mostly the Piedmont. Specimens from Alleghany, Cherokee, and Mecklenburg counties (SERNEC) have not been examined; the Jones specimen has, by R. LeBlond in 2022, and determined it to be D. mattamuskeetense. The report from Clay County is highly plausible and needs to be verified.
NJ, IN, and MO, south to AL and MS. | |
| Abundance | Uncommon in the eastern and central Piedmont, but very rare in the Mountains. The website editors feel that the S1 State Rank is too conservative, and we suggest a rank of S2S3; however, the NC Plant Conservation Program moved the species to a State Endangered species status in May 2021. | |
| Habitat | Rocky slopes, outcrops, rocky woodlands, glades; powerlines and clearings in the above habitats. Associated with mafic rocks (i.e., on higher pH soils). The Richmond County population (June 2021) occurs on ther lower slope of a mafic ridge in a powerline. |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting May-October. | |
| Identification | The common name refers to the densely hairy ring or "beard" of white hairs at the stem nodes. It tends to be a low-growing, rather spreading plant, not bolt-upright. Note the mafic soil habitat! | |
| Taxonomic Comments | To lump this species into D. dichotomum ssp. mattamuskeetense, as FNA has done, is far wide of the mark. The two have completely different habitats and ranges, and morphologies are are also distinct once learned.
A note about Dichanthelium: This genus is not impossible to identify to species! But it takes applied effort over a period of time in order to learn the various species and what their morphological limits are. We strongly recommend that you read the introduction to the treatment in Weakley et al. (2023), written by Richard LeBlond. LeBlond has made order out of near chaos, and his keys work very well for our plants. Most Dichanthelium taxa ("Dichs") do not grow everywhere indiscrimminately, but prefer certain well-defined habitats. Note that most species produce flowers/fruits twice a year -- a vernal period and an autumnal period -- and that measurements of spikelets and achenes are taken from vernal plants. Some species also have a third, or summer, period. In the vernal period there is a single inflorescence at the tip of the stem. In the autumnal period, plants produce elongate branches with bunched (congested) leaves and so look quite different from vernal plants. Inflorescences are produced in leaf axils as well as at the tips of branches. NOTE: Older texts had these species essentially all within the very large genus Panicum. "Dich" species are typically named as "Witchgrass" and Panicum species named as "Panicgrass". | |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | S1 [S2S3] | |
| Global Rank | G4 | |
| State Status | E | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
