| Author | (Michaux) Britton, Sterns, & Poggenburg | |
| Distribution | Mostly Piedmont, Sandhills, and Coastal Plain; scattered in the Mountains; rare on the Outer Banks and the neighboring mainland.
NJ to OH and KS, south to FL and TX. | |
| Abundance | Frequent to common, except uncommon in the Mountains/foothills. Very rare to rare in the tidewater region. Why NatureServe has its Global Rank of G4 instead of the obvious G5 is not clear; it is certainly S5 in NC. | |
| Habitat | Dry to xeric or mesic, Longleaf Pine uplands, pine-oak-hickory woodlands, openings in woodlands, glades, rock outcrops, old fields, powerlines. |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting August-October. | |
| Identification | The name of "skeleton-grass" is a good reminder of its appearance. Leaves are concentrated in the lower half of the plant and arranged in 2 ranks. The upper half (or 2/3) of the plant is a very open, airy, inflorescence with widely spreading (often +- horizontal), slender branches. Spikelets are small, scattered along most of each branch, and appressed to the branches. G. brevifolius is very similar, but has fewer spikelets and which occupy only the ends of the branches. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
| |
| Other Common Name(s) | Broadleaf Beardgrass, Eastern Beardgrass | |
| State Rank | S5 | |
| Global Rank | G4 [G5] | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
