Panicum depauperatum Muhl.

Panicum depauperatum Muhl. Descr. Gram. 112. 1817
Panicum strictum Pursh, Fl. Am. Sept. 69. 1814. Not P. strictum R. Br. 1810.
Panicum rectum R. & S. Syst. Veg. 2: 457. 1817.
Panicum involutum Torr. Fl. U. S. 144. 1823.
Panicum Muhlenbergii Spreng. Syst. 1: 314. 1825.
Panicum junceum Trin. Gram. Pan. 220. 1826.
Panicum Sprengelii Kunth, Rev. Gram. 39. 1829.
Panicum depauperatum involutum Wood, Class Book ed. 1861. 786. 1861.
Panicum depauperatum laxum Vasey, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Bot. 8: 29. 1889.
Vernal phase with culms several to many in a tuft, 20-40 cm. high, slender but rather stiff, erect or spreading at the summit, glabrous, puberulent or sometimes pilose; nodes ascendingpubescent; leaf-sheaths, except the lowest, shorter than the internodes, glabrous to papillosepilose; blades linear, 6-15 cm. long, 2-5 mm. wide (the lower shorter), often involute in drying, scabrous on both surfaces, sometimes pubescent beneath; panicles exserted, usually not much exceeding the leaves, 4-8 cm. long, rarely longer, few-flowered, the rather strict, remote branches narrowly ascending at maturity; spikelets 3.2-3.8 mm. long, rarely only 3 mm. or as much as 4 mm. long, 1.5-1.7 mm. wide, elliptic, pointed, glabrous or sparsely pubescent; first glume one third to half the length of the spikelet, subacute; second glume and sterile lemma equal, extending beyond the fruit, forming a beak, strongly 7-9-nerved; fruit 2.1-2.3 mm. long, 1.4-1.5 mm. wide, oval, minutely umbonate at the apex.
Autumnal phase similar to the vernal, the reduced secondary panicles produced on branches from the basal or lower nodes, more or less concealed in the tuft of basal leaves.
Type locality: Pennsylvania.
Distribution: Maine to Minnesota, and south to Georgia and Texas.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Stems trailing, spreading or prostrate, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem nodes bearded or hairy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat , Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Flowers bisexual, Flowers unisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Inflorescence or spikelets partially hidden in leaf sheaths, subtended by spatheole, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes 3 nerved, Glumes 4-7 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma coriaceous, firmer or thicker in texture than the glumes, Lemma becoming indurate, enclosing palea and caryopsis, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma 8-15 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins inrolled, tightly covering palea and caryopsis, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea about equal to lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.