Dichanthelium sphaerocarpon Ell.
Roundseed Dichanthelium

Habit: 		Tufted perennial.
Vernal form: 	Light green.
Culms: 		20-55 cm. tall, few in a tuft, usually widely spreading, appressed pubescent at the
		nodes, sparingly branched from the lower nodes late in the season, leafy towards the base.
Blades: 	6-14 cm. long, 7-14 mm. wide, flat, thick, ascending, cartilaginous margined,
		stiff-ciliate toward the subcordate base, nerves inconspicuous.
Sheaths: 	Upper shorter and lower than the internodes, loose above, ciliate on the margins,
		sometimes viscid between the nerves.
Ligule: 	Obsolete or nearly so.
Inflorescence: 	Panicle long-exserted, 5-10 cm. long, nearly as wide, green to dark purple,
		loosely flowered, with viscid spots on the axis and ascending branches.
Spikelets: 	1.6-1.8 mm. long, 1-1.3 mm. wide, obovoid-spherical, dark purple, puberulent.
Glumes: 	First about one fourth the length of the spikelet, obtuse, the second and sterile
		lemma equaling the fruit at maturity, 5-7-nerved.
Fruit: 		1.4-1.5 mm. long, 1-1.2 mm. wide, obovoid-spherical, china-white.
Autumnal form:	Prostrate-spreading, sparingly branching late in the season from the base and
		lower and middle nodes, the branches short, mostly simple, the blades and panicles
		not greatly reduced, winter rosette of many thick ovate or ovate-lanceolate, white-margined leaves, appearing early.
Habitat: 	Sandy soil.  July-September.
Kansas Range:	Southeast corner.
Synonyms:	Dichanthelium sphaerocarpon (Ell.) Gould var. sphaerocarpon
		Panicum sphaerocarpon Ell.
		Panicum sphaerocarpon Ell. var. inflatum (Scribn. & J.G. Sm.) A.S. Hitchc. & Chase