| Author | (Biehler) A.S. Hitchcock | |
| Distribution | Piedmont, Sandhills, and Coastal Plain; scarce on the Outer Banks.
MA to WI, IA, and KS, south to FL and TX. | |
| Abundance | Infrequent to fairly common in the eastern and southern Piedmont, Sandhills, and much of the western Coastal Plain; uncommon in the eastern and central Coastal Plain, except rare on the Outer Banks. | |
| Habitat | Dry to mesic soils of pine-hardwood woodlands, rocky slopes, glades, Longleaf Pine loamy flats and pea swales, loamy soil savannas and flatwoods. Typically in thin soil. | |
| Phenology | Flowering and fruiting August-October. | |
| Identification | Easy to overlook, Rough Dropseed looks like a slender stick 2-4 feet tall. The relatively few leaves are narrow and about a foot long, often browned by flowering time. The narrow inflorescence is usually only partly exposed, thus the Latin name, and 3-5 inches long. Each spikelet is 6-8 mm long. | |
| Taxonomic Comments | None
Recent molecular research suggests that Calamovilfa and Spartina are nested deeply within Sporobolus. Weakley (2020) proposes that they remain split until a long-term solution is found, as their members are monophyletic. | |
| Other Common Name(s) | None | |
| State Rank | S4 | |
| Global Rank | G5 | |
| State Status | | |
| US Status | | |
| USACE-agcp | | |
| USACE-emp | | |
