Panic Grass, Dichanthelium oligosanthes, Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden

	Grasses of the Eloise Butler Wildflower Garden
	Common Name	Scientific Name	Plant Family	Garden Location	Height	Prime Season
	Panic Grass	Dichanthelium oligosanthes (Schult.) Gould var. scribnerianum (Nash) Gould	Poaceae (Grasses)		6" to 18"	Late May to June and again Late June to September.
	Native Status	(Known as Scribner's Panic Grass, or Scribner's Rosette Grass) It is a native perennial grass found in the lower Canadian Provinces and all the lower 48 states except Nevada and South Carolina. In Minnesota is has distribution only in counties along the Dakota borders and along the Minnesota River from the Dakota border down to Mankato.
Notes	This species is considered the most common species of Dichanthelium on the open prairies. It is also found in disturbed ground and sometimes in open dry woodlands. Dichanthelium's have two periods of blooming. Primary flower heads of this species are produced in late May to early July. Secondary flower heads come from the leaf axils from late June through September. The secondary flowers remain closed and are self-pollinated and produce more seed than the first flowers. Dichanthelium is from the Greek, meaning twice flowering. D. oligosanthes is large-leaved, tufted, with a characteristic orange or purple colored spot usually visible on one side of the base of the spikelet. D. oligosanthes var. scribnerianum leaves are usually without hair on the top but often hairy under and have stiff margin hairs. Leaf sheaths can be smooth or hairy. Stems up to 2' high. The flower heads are up to 3" long and almost 3" wide. The small spikelets can be smooth to having sparse short hair. Another variety, D. oligosanthes var. oligosanthes has slightly larger but narrower spikelets, more narrow leaf blades, a smaller less visible orange spot and less distribution in the United States but curiously, is found in more places in Minnesota.


Note the pyramidal shape of the flower head and the few small spikelets with the characteristic orangish-purplish spot at their base. Photo above and at top left ©Anna Gardner Iowa State University	USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950. Manual of the grasses of the United States. USDA Miscellaneous Publication No. 200. Washington, DC.

Notes: This grass is indigenous to the Garden. Eloise Butler catalogued it in her early Garden records.

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References: Plant characteristics are generally from sources 28c, W2, W3, W5 & W6. Distribution principally from W2 and W1. Planting history generally from 1, 4 & 4a. Other sources by specific reference. See Reference List for details.

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