Native & Naturalized Plants of the Carolinas & Georgia

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3545

Grass, Sedge, or Rush
Perennial

Native to the Carolinas & Georgia

Documented growing wild in GA NC SC

Common (uncommon in Mountains)

Look for it in wet sandy or peaty soils, low woods, meadows, marshes, shores, swamps, ditches. Often weedy, per Weakley's Flora

map
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LEAVES:
Simple
Basal & alternate, 2-ranked

FLOWER:
Summer/Fall
Spikelets greenish-purple
Inflorescence an open panicle

FRUIT:
Summer/Fall
Grain purplish to blackish
Grain

 

TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!



Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Monocots: Commelinids: Poales

WEAKLEY'S FLORA (5/21/15):
 Coleataenia rigidula ssp. rigidula   FAMILY Poaceae

INCLUDED WITHIN PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
 Panicum rigidulum var. rigidulum   FAMILY Poaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (1968) 029-81-004a:
 Panicum agrostoides var. agrostoides   FAMILY Poaceae

SYNONYMOUS WITH Guide to the Vascular Plants of the Blue Ridge (Wofford, 1989)
 Panicum rigidulum var. rigidulum

INCLUDING Manual of the Grasses of the US (Hitchcock & Chase, 1950)
 Panicum agrostoides var. agrostoides

 

COMMON NAME:
 Redtop Panic Grass

Click or hover over the thumbnails to see larger pictures.

image of Coleataenia rigidula ssp. rigidula, Redtop Panic Grass

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Britton, N.L., and A. Brown. 1913    pnd_paag_001_lvd

        

image of Coleataenia rigidula ssp. rigidula, Redtop Panic Grass

USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database / Hitchcock, A.S. (rev. A. Chase). 1950    pnd_paag_002_lhd

        

image of Coleataenia rigidula ssp. rigidula, Redtop Panic Grass

Gill Newberry    gn09_p_agrostoides_flower

September        

Spikelets greeinish-purple, attached on 1 side of the panicle branches, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians.

image of Coleataenia rigidula ssp. rigidula, Redtop Panic Grass

Gill Newberry    gn09_p_agrostoides_habit

September        

Leaf blades erect, folded at base, flat above, 20-50cm long, 5-12mm wide, per Manual of the Grasses of the United States.

image of Coleataenia rigidula ssp. rigidula, Redtop Panic Grass

Gill Newberry    gn09_p_agrostoides_inf

September        

Inflorescence a narrow, pyramidal panicle, 4-12" tall, per Wildflowers of Tennessee, the Ohio Valley, and the Southern Appalachians.