''Panicum anceps'' is a species of

grass Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns an ...

known by the common name beaked panicgrass. It is native to the southeastern United States, where it occurs as far north as

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

and as far west as

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

.''Panicum anceps''.
USDA NRCS Plant Guide. This species is a

rhizomatous In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

perennial grass with stems growing up to 1.3 meters tall. The leaves have erect blades up to half a meter tall. The

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

is a

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

up to 40 centimeters long bearing pale green or yellowish spikelets.''Panicum anceps''.
Grass Manual Treatment. The grass produces an abundance of seed.''Panicum anceps''.
USDA NRCS Plant Fact Sheet. The seed is curved like the beak of a bird, giving the plant its common name. In the wild this plant grows in moist areas such as swampland and wet woodland habitat. This grass provides a good graze for cattle and horses throughout most of the year. It does not tolerate

overgrazing Overgrazing occurs when plants are exposed to intensive grazing for extended periods of time, or without sufficient recovery periods. It can be caused by either livestock in poorly managed agricultural applications, game reserves, or nature res ...

. Deer also graze the plant and the seed provides food for birds. The plant is also used for

revegetation Revegetation is the process of replanting and rebuilding the soil of disturbed land. This may be a natural process produced by plant colonization and succession, manmade rewilding projects, accelerated process designed to repair damage to a lan ...

efforts on disturbed land such as mine spoils and roadsides. It is best grown in moist to wet soils.

References

External links

USDA Plants Profile for ''Panicum anceps''NatureServe.org: ''Panicum anceps''

anceps In languages with quantitative poetic metres, such as Ancient Greek, Latin, Arabic, Sanskrit, and classical Persian, an anceps (plural ''ancipitia'' or ''(syllabae) ancipites'') is a position in a metrical pattern which can be filled by either a lo ...

Grasses of the United States Warm-season grasses of North America Flora of the Southeastern United States Grasses of Alabama Native grasses of Texas {{Panicoideae-stub