Dichanthelium scabriusculum (Elliott) Gould & C.A. Clark

Tall Swamp Witch Grass

Herb

Perennial

Vascular

Tall Swamp Witch Grass is a native short-lived perennial in the grass family. It is found primarily in the southern third of Alabama. Tall Swamp Witch Grass grows in wet sites such as creek banks, pond margins, and wet ditches. It is a perennial from short rhizomes. It over winters as a rosette of basal leaves. During the summer it produces erect stems that are up to 5 feet in height. At this time the basal and lower stem leaves usually wither. The internodes (areas between where leaves are attached) are scabridulous to glabrous. The nodes (point on the stem where a leaf attaches) are glabrous or puberulent. The nodes are swollen, and have a dense "beard" of hairs above a constricted, sticky ring. Summer stems are unbranched. Autumn stems are branched in the upper half with numerous dense fascicles of reduced panicles. Stem leaves are alternate, linear in outline, narrowing past the midpoint to long tapering tips, and glabrous or sparsely pubescent. The margins of the leaf are scabridulous, and the bases are subcordate. The leaf sheath (wrapping around the stem from the base of the blade to the node) is pubescent, often purplish, and has pale spots. Flowers are produced in panicles. The primary panicles are terminal and extend well beyond the leaves. Secondary panicles are formed later in the year. They are produced from near where the blade meets the stems and partially enclosed by the leaf and leaf sheath. The fruit is a grain.—A. Diamond.

Updated: 6 Jun 2020-BK;

Native OBL (NWPL)

**