Dichanthelium fusiforme (A.S. Hitchcock) Harvill. Spindle-fruited Witchgrass. Phen: May-Nov. Hab: Longleaf pine sandhills, other dry to moist sand of open pine and pine-oak woods and clearings. Dist: Se. VA south to FL, west to MS and w. LA (perhaps most abundant in FL); West Indies; Mexico, Central America, and Venezuela.
ID notes:Autumnal blades often flat. The autumnal form of D. oligosanthes var. oligosanthes can be very similar to D. fusiforme if the vernal blades of the former are missing. They are best separated by ligule length (0.5-1 mm in fusiforme, 1.5-3 mm in oligosanthes) and the more attenuated ends of the fusiforme spikelet.
Origin/Endemic status: Native
Synonymy: = Va, LeBlond (2017a) in Weakley et al (2017); = Dichanthelium aciculare (Desv. ex Poir.) Gould & C.A.Clark ssp. fusiforme (Hitchc.) Freckmann & Lelong – FNA25; = Panicum fusiforme Hitchc. – F, G, HC, RAB, S; < Dichanthelium aciculare (Desv. ex Poir.) Gould & C.A.Clark – FlGr, K1, K3, K4, Mex, Gould & Clark (1978); < Panicum aciculare Desv. ex Poir. – C
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