The Dichanthelium Series: Dichanthelium praecocius


There, beneath the big grasses of the prairie, nestled next to triple-canoed violet fruits, aborted Scleria achenes and the tumbled tops of Agrostis hyemalis is a grass that no one sees. It is small. It is hairy and dirty.

The stems emerge tangential, node, soon bend geniculate but not quite erect. Hairs are ubiquitous but sparse enough to collect dirt; char in good years.

Vernal panicles elongate and expand moments before the axillary inflorescences; a novel trait for the genus. Lodicules pump like steam engines as the flags of gynoecium and androecium unfurl to disperse and collect anemochorous wares. Spikelets fall short of D. villosissiumum and rarely exceed 1.9mm length.

Its ligule further distinguishes it from D. villosissimum and D. acuminatum into which it has been lumped as of late. The ligule is much too long for this (exceeding 1.0mm) and has a unique shape in that the central hairs are shorter than the marginal ligule hairs.

Home in the prairie, beneath the big grasses where voles hide from hawks and lizards find shade. Hidden, hairy, ligulate, praecocius.

Comments

  1. Allison VaughnJuly 2, 2010 at 8:40 PM

    Boy, to someone who doesn't know plants like me, it sure looks like P. sphaerocarpon...Very nice post! Isn't this just the best time of year?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Scott NamestnikJuly 3, 2010 at 7:00 AM

    That is one dirty, hairy grass. Nice photos.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Justin R. ThomasJuly 3, 2010 at 4:02 PM

    The first few weeks of summer do offer some fine botanizing. That being said, I really miss playing Carex perigynia.

    I tried to keep this post brief so I can follow it up with species of similar gross morphology.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Strolling the Remnants: Sand Prairie Conservation Area

Image
My work through the Institute of Botanical Training takes me all over the Midwest. In 2009, I was working on a contract in southeastern Missouri that was about an hour from Sand Prairie Conservation Area. An admirer of prairies of all kinds, I visited the site twice over the season and would like to share my observations below. Visit One: April 17: A chilling spring breeze blows across the sand prairie. Sun-warmed sand dislodges, rolls and re-accumulates as it gradually exposes and conceals scattered pebbles in this sandy scene. Small dune-like hills stabilized by vegetation subtly gradate into expansive flats. The surrounding landscape speaks of the early Holocene winds and braided waters of glacial outwash that are responsible for the sandy deposition. A sprinkling of sand islands scattered within a matrix of wet forests of the Mississippi floodplain. Here, inches in elevation separate desert from swamp. Weathered gray stems spinning in the wind draw solar systems in the sand. The
Read more

Ozarkian Atrichum

Image
Back in early February, I collected a moss that had to be in the genus Atrichum (Polytrichaceae). It was acrocarpous with lanceolate leaves possessing lamellae (gill-like flaps) along the costa (midrib) and had serrate teeth on the margins. But it was a species that I didn’t recognize. There are two species commonly encountered in the Midwest, A. altecristatum and A. angustatum . Both can be readily identified by field characters. This one didn’t match either. Then last Sunday, I collected another Atrichum that looked different. Needing answers I turned to the Flora of North America volume on acrocarpous mosses. In it, I learned that there are only five species of Atrichum in Missouri and that one of these species is restricted to bald cypress swamps in the Bootheel. At this point I thought to myself “if my summation is correct, I have collections of all four Atrichum known from the Ozarks (of Missouri, at least)”. Having been intimidated by bryophyte keys many times before, this t
Read more

A Spring Prairie Tour

Image
A Spring Prairie Tour (May 1, 2020) by Justin Thomas Director of Science NatureCITE The following photos have been posted for folks listening to the NatureCITE podcast #5 (link  here ) to follow along with. For more about ecological emergence, ascendance and autocatalysis see NatureCITE podcast #3 and stay tuned. The photos aren't great, but by using the captions of each photo while listening to the descriptions on the podcast one should be able to better understand of the phenomena and lifeforms explained in the podcast.  Castilleja coccinea (Indian Paintbrush). This was the only population seen on the property, though it used to be common. Growing season fire (that which occurs from mid-February through late September), especially in the spring, burns up the rosettes of this species before they can grow and flower. The fruiting bodies of Carex abdita (Hidden Sedge) in the unburned portion of the site. Oxalis violacea (Wood Sorrel). A common prairie spe
Read more