''Panicum dichotomiflorum'', known by the common names fall panicgrass, autumn millet (Britain and Ireland), and fall panicum is a species of

Poaceae 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 ...

"true grass". It is native to much of the eastern United States and parts of Canada, and it can be found in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

through

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. It may be an

introduced species An introduced species, alien species, exotic species, adventive species, immigrant species, foreign species, non-indigenous species, or non-native species is a species living outside its native distributional range, but which has arrived there ...

in some western climates. It grows in many types of habitat, including disturbed areas and

chaparral Chaparral ( ) is a shrubland plant community and geographical feature found primarily in the U.S. state of California, in southern Oregon, and in the northern portion of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It is shaped by a Mediterranean c ...

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

Description

''Panicum dichotomiflorum'' is an annual

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 ...

growing decumbent or erect to a maximum height near one meter-3 feet. It can be distinguished from its relative, ''Panicum capillare'' - Witchgrass by its hairless leaves.UC Davis IPM
/ref> 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 large open

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 20 centimeters long and fanning out to a width of 16 centimeters.

References

External links

Jepson Manual Treatment - ''Panicum dichotomiflorum''USDA Plants Profile''Panicum dichotomiflorum'' - Photo gallery
dichotomiflorum Grasses of Canada Grasses of the United States Flora of the Eastern United States Native grasses of Texas {{Panicoideae-stub