Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Dichanthelium scabriusculum (Elliot) Gould & C.A. Clark
- Family: Grass (Gramineae)
- Flowering: May-November
- Field Marks: The characters that distinguish this grass from others in the genus are the roughened stems only at the nodes and the spikelets about 1/8 inch long with the first glume only 1/6 as long as the spikelet.
- Habitat: Common in marshy substrates, wet woods, depressions, shores of ponds, lakes, and ditches.
- Habit: Rather stout perennial herb with thickened rootstocks.
- Stems: Upright, stiff, stout, smooth except for the rough nodes, up to 4 1/2 feet tall.
- Leaves: Elongated, stiff, flat, sharp-pointed at the tip, smooth or rough to the touch on the upper surface, usually hairy on the lower surface, up to 3/4 inch wide.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets arranged in panicles, the spikelets 1-flowered, ovoid, pointed at the tip, smooth or minutely hairy, purplish, about 1/8 inch long, with the first glume 1/6 as long as the spikelet.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Grain obovoid, smooth.
- Notes: This species is called Panicum scabriusculum of the Poaceae by Gleason and Cronquist. The autumnal phase of this species has leaf and stem characters which differ from the summer, flowering growth. Autumnal phase bears branches which are densely tufted and with very hairy leaf sheaths.
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