8. Panicum depauperatum Muhl.
Pl. 168 g;
Map 669
Dichanthelium depauperatum (Muhl.) Gould
Plants perennial, without rhizomes,
forming dense tufts. Flowering stems 10–40 cm long, erect or nearly so, unbranched or
becoming branched during the summer and autumn, the nodes and internodes
glabrous or short‑hairy, especially toward the base. Foliage mostly
crowded toward the base of the plant (due to the very much shortened internodes
toward the bases of the flowering stems), the leaves above the bases of the
flowering stems few or none (sometimes small fascicles of leaves produced on
the middle nodes during the summer and autumn), bright green to bluish green.
Leaf sheaths usually long‑hairy, the ligule 0.3–1.0 mm long, a line or
band of hairs. Leaf blades 6–20 cm long, 2–5 mm wide, mostly more than 20 times
as long as wide, mostly erect, linear to narrowly lanceolate, narrowed or
somewhat rounded at the base, firm, glabrous or more commonly long‑hairy.
Inflorescences 3–8 cm long, the earlier ones larger than the later ones, the
branches strongly ascending, mostly rebranched 1 or more times, not spikelike
or 1‑sided, the spikelets appearing short‑ or long‑stalked at
the tips of the branches. Spikelets 2.9–4.5 mm long, elliptic
in outline. Lower glume 0.9–2.0 mm long, 1/3–1/2 as long as the
spikelet, broadly ovate, rounded to bluntly pointed at the tip, glabrous,
nerveless or faintly 1‑ or 3‑nerved. Upper glume 2.9–4.5 mm long,
elliptic, sharply pointed at the tip and extended 0.5–1.5 mm past the tip of
the fertile floret into a noticeable beak, strongly 7‑ or 9‑nerved,
glabrous or less commonly minutely hairy. Lowermost floret usually sterile and
with a reduced, inconspicuous palea, the lemma 2.9–4.5 mm long, elliptic,
sharply pointed at the tip and extended 0.5–1.5 mm past the tip of the fertile
floret into a noticeable beak, strongly 7‑ or 9‑nerved, glabrous or
less commonly minutely hairy. Fertile floret 2.1–2.6 mm long, broadly elliptic,
rounded or with a short point at the tip. Anthers 0.3–1.5 mm
long. 2n=18. May–August (vernal), July–October
(autumnal).
Scattered nearly throughout Missouri,
but absent from portions of the western third of the state and the Mississippi
Lowlands Division (eastern U.S.
and adjacent Canada west to Minnesota and Texas).
Upland prairies, glades, and openings of mesic to dry upland forests, on acidic
substrates; also roadsides and dry, disturbed areas.