Sarita Rosette Grass

Panicum nodatum Hitchc. & Chase, Contr. U. S. Nat. Herb. 15:
293. 1910.
Vernal phase in tufts from a knotted crown; culms ascending or spreading, slender but hard and wiry, 25-35 cm. high, finely papillose, crisp-puberulent ; leaf -sheaths shorter than the internodes, papillose-hispid between the strong nerves; ligule dense, scarcely 1 mm. long; blades firm, ascending, 3-5 cm. long, 3-6 mm. wide, broadest at the rounded base, abruptly acute, puberulent on both surfaces, papillose-ciliate with stiff hairs 2-3 mm. long; panicles 4-5 cm. long, half to two thirds as wide, few-flowered, the few branches ascending ; spikelets 4 mm. long, 1.7 mm. wide, pyriform, papillose-pubescent; first glume about one third the length of the spikelet, acuminate; second glume slightly shorter than the fruit and sterile lemma; fruit 3 mm. long, 1.4 mm. wide, obovate-elliptic, minutely white-puberulent at the apex.
Autumnal phase widely geniculate-decumbent, early branching from all but the uppermost node, the branches somewhat divaricate, equaling or exceeding the main'culm, with numerous swollen nodes, the internodes 2-3 cm. long, the whole forming a loose tuft, the blades and panicles not reduced.
Type locality: Sarita, Texas. Distribution: Texas and adjacent Mexico.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizome short and compact, stems close, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems swollen at base, tuberous, cormous or bulbous, 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 cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath hairy, hispid or prickly, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades lanceolate, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, Leaf blades more or less hairy, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule a fringe of hairs, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, 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, 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 truncate, rounded, or obtuse, 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.