USGS Home
Contact USGS
Search USGS

Redtop Panicum (Panicum rigidulum)

• Family: Grass (Poaceae)
• Flowering: July-October.
• Field Marks: This Panicum differs by its very tiny straight spikelets, its smooth stems and leaves, and its leaves at least 1/4 inch broad.
• Habitat: Wet meadows, wet prairies, damp woods, in roadside ditches, along streams, around ponds and lakes.
• Habit: Tufted perennial herbs.
• Stems: Erect, branched, smooth, up to 3 feet tall.
• Leaves: Long and narrow, rough, up to 15 inches long, 1/4-1/2 inch broad.
• Flowers: One per spikelet, with many spikelets forming a panicle up to 1 1/2 feet long; spikelets 1/12 inch long, pointed at the tip, smooth.
• Stamens: 3.
• Pistils: Ovary superior; styles 3.
• Grains: 1/20 inch long.
• Notes: This species used to be known as P. agrostoides.