Culms 60-150 cm, (1)2-3.5 mm thick at the nodes, unbranched, leafy for
40% of their height. Sheaths pilose; collars pilose; ligules
0.2-0.3 mm, entire; blades (15)20-50 cm long, 4.5-9.5(15) mm wide, linear-lanceolate,
sparsely pilose adaxially. Panicles (9)20-70 cm, contracted or open, erect;
branches tightly appressed or ascending to strongly divergent; axils
of panicle branchesglabrous or scabridulous at the edges; pedicels
0.3-2.5(5) mm. Spikelets 4-10 mm long, 6-9 mm wide, with 4-7(8) florets,
lower 1(2) florets sterile, fertile florets divergent to 80°. Lower glumes
1.2-2.7 mm, 3-5-veined; upper glumes 1.4-2.2 mm, 3-5-veined; calluses
glabrous; fertile lemmas 3.5-5.9 mm, usually curved or irregularly contorted,
7-9-veined, keels not winged, apices scabridulous; paleas 2.8-4 mm; anthers
(0.8)1.3-1.6 mm, varying in length within a spikelet. Caryopses 2-2.5 mm,
exposed at maturity. 2n =24.
Chasmanthium sessiliflorum grows in rich woods, meadows, and swamps, especially
on the coastal plain. It grows throughout most of the southeastern United States.
Tufted on short rhizomes, 5-15 dm; sheaths essentially glabrous except for the ciliate margins; blades elongate, 3-7 mm wide, attenuate into a long, almost filiform tip; infl virgate, 1.5-4 dm; spikelets sessile or short-pedicellate, 3-5(-7)-fld, 5-10 mm, reverse- triangular or V-shaped; glumes 1.5-3 mm, equal or subequal; lemmas (the lower 1 or 2 empty) acuminate, 5-7(-9)-veined, with glabrous callus; palea shorter than the lemma; grain 2-3 נ1-2 mm, exposed, widely spreading the lemmas and paleas at maturity; 2n=24. Woods, meadows, and swamps; Fla. to Tex., n. to L.I., N.J., Ky., and s. Mo. (Uniola l.)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.