Dichanthelium acuminatum var. acuminatum (Sw.) Gould & Clark Hairy Dichanthelium Habit: Erect or ascending tufted perennial, at length much branched. Vernal form: Commonly olivaceous, often purplish, harsh to the touch, from the copious spreading papillose-pubescence of culms and leaves. Culms: 20-60 cm. tall, stiffly upright; nodes bearded with spreading hairs. Blades: 4-10 cm. long, 5-8 mm. wide, firm, erect or ascending, veins inconspicuous, upper surface copiously short-pilose especially toward the rounded base, lower surface densely pubescent. Sheaths: Shorter than the internodes. Ligule: 3-4 mm. long. Inflorescence: Panicle exserted, 4-6 cm. long, nearly as wide, usually purplish, rather densely flowered, the axis and often the branches pilose; the flexuous fascicled branches ascending or spreading, short spikelet-bearing branchlets at the base of the fascicles. Spikelets: 1.6-1.8 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, obovate, obtuse, turgid, papillose-pubescent. Glumes: First glume small, about one third as long as the spikelet; second glume and sterile lemma papillose-pilose, subequal, slightly shorter than the obscurely apiculate fruit. Fruit: 1.5-1.6 mm. long, 1 mm. wide, elliptic, subapiculate, grain free within the rigid, firmly closed lemma and palea. Autumnal form: Stiffly erect or ascending, the culms and sheaths sometimes papillose only, the branches fascicled, the reduced crowded leaves ascending, the blades 20-30 mm. long, much exceeding the reduced panicles. Habitat: Prairies and open ground. June-September. Kansas Range: East two thirds. Synonyms: Panicum acuminatum Sw. Panicum auburne Ashe Panicum benneri Fern. Panicum chrysopsidifolium Nash