Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Dichanthelium aciculare (Desv. ex Poir.) Gould & C.A. Clark
- Family: Grass (Gramineae)
- Flowering: May-October
- Field Marks: This species differs from all others in the genus by the minutely hairy lower part of the stems, its hairy, tiny spikelets about 1/12 inch long, and its firm, long-pointed, narrow leaves.
- Habitat: Dry sandy soil.
- Habit: Densely tufted perennial grass from thickened rootstocks and with winter rosettes of leaves.
- Stems: Spreading to upright, slender, stiff, minutely hairy at least on the lower parts, gray-green, up to 2 feet long.
- Leaves: Elongated, firm, sharp-pointed at the tip, smooth on the upper surface, often long-hairy on the lower surface and ciliate towards the base, up to 3 inches long, up to 1/4 inch wide; lowest sheaths appressed-hairy, the upper ones without hairs.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets arranged in panicles, the spikelets 1-flowered, obovoid, minutely hairy, about 1/12 inch long, the first glume about 1/4 as long as the spikelet.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Grain obovoid, smooth.
- Notes: This species is called Panicum aciculare of the Poaceae by Gleason and Cronquist. The autumnal phase of this grass is bushy-branched and matted, and the curved leaves are inrolled into a tube.
Previous Species -- Orchard Grass (Dactylis glomerata)
Return to Species List -- Group 2
Next Species -- Variable Witchgrass (Dichanthelium commutatum)
