Southern Wetland Flora
Field Office Guide to Plant Species
Chasmanthium sessiliflorum (Poir.) H. Yates
- Family: Grass (Poaceae)
- Flowering: August-October
- Field Marks: Pointed, 2- to 5-flowered spikelets and the hairy leaf sheaths distinguish this grass from the similar Chasmanthium laxum.
- Habitat: Hammocks, steep ravines, moist or dry soils in pinelands, along rivers and streams, moist prairies.
- Habit: Tufted perennial grass with short, thickened rhizomes.
- Stems: Upright or nodding, unbranched, smooth or hairy, up to 2 1/2 feet tall.
- Leaves: Elongated, up to 11/2 feet long, up to 1/2 inch wide, finely hairy on the upper surface, smooth or finely hairy on the lower surface, rough to the touch along the edges; sheaths hairy.
- Flowers: Borne in spikelets, the spikelets borne in panicles with strongly ascending branches.
- Spikelets: Not crowded, 2- to 5-flowered, flat, up to 1/3 inch long; lemmas pointed.
- Sepals: 0.
- Petals: 0.
- Stamens: 3.
- Pistils: Ovary superior.
- Grains: Somewhat flattened, black, up to 1/8 inch long.
Previous Species -- Slender Spikegrass (Chasmanthium laxum)
Return to Species List -- Group 2
Next Species -- Pitted Jointgrass (Coelorachis cylindrica)
