Vascular Plants of North Carolina
Section: Common Name: Scientific Name: Family:
Account for Hairless Witchgrass - Dichanthelium strigosum var. glabrescens   (Grisebach) Freckmann
Members of Poaceae:
Members of Dichanthelium with account distribution info or public map:
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Section 5 » Family Poaceae
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Author(Grisebach) Freckmann
DistributionOuter Coastal Plain. A single population (2 subpopulations) was discovered at Camp Lejeune in Onslow County in 2009 during a Carolina Vegetation Survey. Specimen ID confirmed by Richard LeBlond. There is a second sollection from Onslow County, by Hugo Blomquist at the DUKE herbarium (fide LeBlond). On 6 June 2019 Eric Ungberg discovered a population at Camp Branch Savanna, Brunswick County (specimen annotated by LeBlond).

Coastal Plain, southeastern NC to southern FL and LA; disjunct in W.I., Belize.
AbundanceVery rare. This taxon is State Threatened.
HabitatMesic flatwoods, wet pine savannas.
PhenologyFlowering and fruiting May-October.
IdentificationThe D. strigosum group is notable in producing a loose to dense tuft or "cushion" of basal leaves, instead of the simple rosette in nearly all other members of the genus. This tuft is pale green and the leaves differ little from the few (2-4) stem leaves. All leaves possess fine white hairs along margins. In var. glabrescens leaf surfaces are glabrate (vs. pilose in var. strigosum; and spikelets are glabrous (vs. pubescent in var. leucoblepharis.
Taxonomic CommentsA 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)
State RankS1
Global RankG5T4T5
State StatusT
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