Southern Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Chasmanthium laxum (L.) H. Yates
- Family: Grass (Poaceae)
- Flowering: June-October
- Field Marks: Although resembling Chasmanthium sessiliflorum very closely, this species is readily distinguished by its smooth leaf sheaths.
- Habitat: Swamps, low woods, stream banks, wet hammocks, wet ditches.
- Habit: Tufted perennial grass with short, thickened rhizomes.
- Stems: Upright or nodding, unbranched, smooth or sparsely hairy at the nodes, up to 3 feet tall.
- Leaves: Elongated, up to 1 foot long, up to 1/3 inch wide, smooth except for a few hairs at the base, although rough to the touch along the edges; sheaths smooth.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets, the spikelets borne in panicles with strongly ascending branches.
- Spikelets: Not crowded, 3- to 5-flowered, flat, up to 1/2 inch long; lemmas pointed.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Grains: Somewhat flattened, brown or black, up to 1/8 inch long.
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Return to Species List -- Group 2
Next Species -- Long-leaf Spikegrass (Chasmanthium sessiliflorum)
