Northeast Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Panicum hemitomon J.A. Schultes
- Family: Grass (Gramineae)
- Flowering: June-July
- Field Marks: This Panicum differs by its nearly sessile, lanceolate spikelets that are pointed at the tip. The plants have long-creeping rhizomes and leaves about 1/2 inch wide.
- Habitat: Wet shores, swamps, sometimes in water.
- Habit: Perennial herb from extensive rhizomes.
- Stems: Spreading and rooting at the lowest nodes to upright, rather stout, up to 5 feet tall.
- Leaves: Elongated, flat, up to 3/4 inch wide, ciliate near base, rough on the upper surface; sheaths smooth or hairy, sometimes overlapping.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets in slender panicles up to 8 inches long; spikelets 1-flowered, usually borne on one side of the panicle branches; spikelets lanceolate, pointed at the tip, short-stalked, up to 1/6 inch long, about 1/20 inch wide.
- Glumes: First glume pointed at the tip, 1/2 as long as the second glume; both glumes smooth.
- Lemmas: Sharply nerved, smooth.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Fruits: Grains ellipsoid, smooth.
- Notes: This species may become very aggressive, sometimes filling in shallow necks of lakes. This family is called Poaceae by Gleason and Cronquist.
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