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.