Chasmanthium latifolium (Michx.) H.O. Yates

River Oats; Indian Wood Oats; Fish on a Pole

Herb

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Vascular

River Oats is a native perennial herb in the Grass family (Poaceae). It can be found throughout Alabama. River Oats grows on the banks of streams and rivers. It is a perennial warm season grass from a short knotty rhizome. The erect culms occur in small clumps and are 2-4 feet in height. The stems are leafy for most of their length. The leaves are alternate, lanceolate, flat, glabrous on the upper surface, and glabrous or slightly pubescent on the lower surface. Flowers are produced in spikelets in drooping panicles above the foliage. Each spikelet has 6-17 florets, with the lower 1-3 sterile. The lower glume has 5-7 veins and the upper has 5-9 veins. The fertile lemmas have winged keels that are pubescent. The fruit is a grain. River Oats is sometimes available from native plant nurseries. It can also be grown from seed. It is shade tolerant and can be grown in mesic to moist soils. The dried seed heads remain on the plant late into the winter months and are sometimes used in dried flower arrangements. It is a larval host plant for the Pepper and Salt Skipper (Amblyscirtes hegon), and Bell's Roadside-Skipper (Amblyscirtes belli).—A. Diamond.

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Native FAC- (NWPL)

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