About Dichanthelium oligosanthes (Schult.) Gould
Dichanthelium oligosanthes, commonly called Heller's rosette grass, fewanther obscuregrass, and few-flowered panicgrass, is a frost-tolerant perennial grass species native to North America. It occurs primarily in the contiguous United States; specimens have also been recorded in British Columbia and Alberta, Canada, and in northern Mexico, south of the Rio Grande. D. oligosanthes grows most frequently in partially shaded woodland glens, recently cut forests, and grassy banks. This species is primarily cleistogamous, meaning individual florets often self-pollinate without opening. Dichanthelium oligosanthes belongs to the grass subfamily Panicoideae, which includes many species that use C4 photosynthesis. Unlike these relatives, D. oligosanthes retains the more ancestral C3 photosynthetic pathway. The genome of Dichanthelium oligosanthes is arranged on nine chromosomes, with an estimated total size between 750 and 950 megabases. A draft genome assembly was produced from the progeny of a single self-pollinated individual collected at Shaw Nature Reserve, near Gray Summit, Missouri.
