Scribner's Panic Grass
Dichanthelium oligosanthes scribnerianum
Grass family (Poaceae)

Description: This native perennial grass develops a culm during the spring that becomes 1-2' tall by early summer. This ascending to erect culm is unbranched, or it may have 1-2 short side branches. The culm is green or purplish green, glabrous or slightly hairy, terete, and partially hidden by the sheaths. There are 4-6 alternate leaves along its length. The leaf blades are up to 3½" long and ½" across (or a little more); they arePanicle of Spikelets dull green, flat, and ciliate along their margins. The upper and lower surfaces of each blade are hairless to sparsely hairy; if hairs are present, they are long and spreading. The leaf sheaths are green, purplish green, or purple; they are strongly veined and more or less covered with long spreading hairs. The base of each hair is swollen (papillose). Each sheath has a V-shaped opening at the apex, while at the bottom it is swollen with a ring of hairs. The nodes are swollen, purplish, and more or less hairy. At the junction of the blade and sheath, each ligule consists of a narrow ring of fine hairs. Each culm terminates in a panicle of spikelets about 2½" long and 1½" across on a short stalk up to 1" long. The branches of this panicle are wiry and ascending. Sometimes a small tuft of hair occurs where the branches diverge. The spikelets are 3-4 mm. long and 2.0-2.7 mm. across (about 1.5 times as long as they are across); they are green to reddish green and glabrous to sparsely hairy. Each spikelet consists of a small glume, a large glume, and a lemma that encloses the developing ovary. The small glume is about 1/3 the length of the spikelet, while the large glume and lemma are the same length as the spikelet. The blooming period occurs from late spring to mid-summer. The florets of the spikelets have short plumose stigmas that are purplish and wind-pollinated. Each mature spikelet produces a single grain about 3 mm. long and 2 mm. across; the grain is ovoid-obovoid in shape and slightly flattened on one side. Autumnal culms develop after the spring culms die down. The autumnal culms are more branched and closer to the ground. The root system is fibrous. This plant spreads by reseeding itself.