| Author | Trinius | |
| Distribution | Coastal Plain, Sandhills, and lower and middle Piedmont -- west only to Mecklenburg County.
Mostly Coastal Plain, NJ to southern FL, eastern TX, and AR. Scattered records in KY, TN, northern AL. | |
| Abundance | Fairly common to frequent in most of the Coastal Plain and Sandhills; uncommon in the Piedmont part of the range. | |
| Habitat | Dry to mesic or clayey Longleaf Pine uplands, pea swales, pine-oak-hickory-dogwood woodlands, openings in woodlands, old fields, powerlines. In the Piedmont often on mafic soils -- barrens, glades, and other dry hardpan soils. | |
| 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, slender branches. The spikelets are small, concentrated at the end of each branch, and appressed to the branches. G. ambiguus is very similar, but it has many more spikelets and which occur along the length of the branches. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
| |
| Other Common Name(s) | Pineland Skeleton-grass, Pineland Beardgrass | |
| State Rank | S4 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | FACU link |
| USACE-emp | FACU link |
