About Dichanthelium ravenelii (Scribn. & Merr.) Gould
Dichanthelium ravenelii can be identified by its prominent basal leaf rosettes, and it occasionally branches from nodes located above its base. It grows both spring and fall foliage, with stems reaching 25 to 60 cm in height. Its nodes are densely bearded, while the stem internodes are either finely hairy or slightly rough. Leaf blades grow up to 12 cm long, and 2.5 to 19 mm wide. They are hairless on the upper surface and softly hairy on the lower surface, with rough, hair-fringed margins and heart-shaped, hairy bases. Its sheaths are covered in soft hairs, ligules are densely hair-fringed and 3 to 5 mm long, and collars are also densely hairy. The inflorescence is a broad panicle, measuring 6 to 7 cm long and 5 to 6 cm wide, with short-hairy branches and rachis. Spikelets are obovoid to broadly ellipsoid, measuring 3.8 to 4.2 mm long, with hairy glumes and lemmas. The fertile floret is smooth, yellowish to brownish when it matures, and is either nerveless or faintly nerved. Grains are broadly ellipsoid to nearly round, 1.2 to 2 mm long, and yellowish or purplish.
Dichanthelium ravenelii occurs across a range from New Jersey south to Florida, west to eastern Texas, and north to Iowa. It grows in dry sandy or rocky thin woods and openings, and sometimes grows in moist soils.
