Dichanthelium consanguineum

Dichanthelium consanguineum
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta - Flowering plants
Class:	Liliopsida – Monocotyledons
Order:	Cyperales
Family:	Poaceae ⁄ Gramineae
Genus:	Dichanthelium
Species:	D. consanguineum
Binomial name
Dichanthelium consanguineum (Kunth) Gould & C.A. Clark
Natural range of Dichanthelium consanguineum from USDA NRCS Plants Database.

Common name: blood panicgrass

Synonym: Panicum consanguineum Kunth

Description

Dichanthelium consanguineum is a perennial graminoid.

Generally, for the Dichanthelium genus, they have "spikelets usually in panicles, round or nearly so in cross section, 2-flowered, terminal fertile, basal sterile, neutral or staminate. First glume usually present, 2nd glume and sterile lemma similar; fertile lemma and palea indurate without hyaline margins. Taxonomically our most difficult and least understood genus of grasses, more than 100 species an varieties are ascribed to the Carolinas by some authors. Note general descriptions for species groups (e.g., 1-4, 5-8, 9-13, and 26-62)." - Radford et al 1964.

Specifically, for the D. consanguineum species, they are "perennial with distinct basal rosettes; branching, when present, from nodes above basal rosette. Leaves basal and cauline, vernal and autumnal. Culms 3-5 dm tall, nodes and internodes villous. Blades to 12 cm long, 2-10 mm wide, uppermost usually more than 2 mm wide, glabrous or densely papillose-pilose on both surfaces, margins usually papillose- ciliate; sheaths appressed or spreading papillose-pilose; ligules ciliate, 1-5 mm long; autumnal blades glabrous or pilose on both surfaces, flat, to 8 cm long, 2-4.5 mm wide. Panicle 1.5-7 cm long, 1-4.5 cm broad; rachis glabrous or puberulent, branches ascending or spreading, scaberulous. Spikelets obovoid, 2.2-2.8 mm long; pedicels scaberulous. First glume usually scarious, obtuse, 0.6-1 mm long, 2nd glume and sterile lemma pubescent, acute to obtuse, usually 2.5 mm long; fertile lemma and palea 2-2.2 mm long. Grain 1.5 mm long, yellowish or purplish, broadly ellipsoid or subglobose." - Radford et al 1964.

Ecology

Habitat

D. consanguineum can be found mainly on dry sandy soils (FSU Herbarium). It occurs in pine flatwoods, pine-cypress savannas, and mixed pine-oak forests (FSU Herbarium).

References and notes

Florida State University Robert K. Godfrey Herbarium database. URL: http://herbarium.bio.fsu.edu. Last accessed: June 2014. Collectors: L. C. Anderson, Sidney McDaniel, A. H. Curtiss, and Geo V. Nash. States and Counties: Florida: Duval, Lake, Leon, Liberty, and Okaloosa

Radford, Albert E., Harry E. Ahles, and C. Ritchie Bell. Manual of the Vascular Flora of the Carolinas. 1964, 1968. The University of North Carolina Press. 142-152. Print.