Cutthroat Grass

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Rhizomes present, Rhizome elongate, creeping, stems distant, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems erect or ascending, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stems branching above base or distally at nodes, Stem nodes bearded or hairy, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly cauline, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath hairy at summit, throat, or collar, Leaf sheath or blade keeled, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blade auriculate, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades 2-10 mm wide, Leaf blade margins folded, involute, or conduplicate, Leaf blades mostly glabrous, Leaf blades scabrous, roughened, or wrinkled, Ligule present, Ligule an unfringed eciliate membrane, Inflorescence terminal, Inflorescence an open panicle, openly paniculate, branches spreading, Inflorescence a contracted panicle, narrowly paniculate, branches appressed or ascending, Inflorescence solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets pedicellate, Spikelets dorsally compressed or terete, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets with 2 florets, Spikelet with 1 fertile floret and 1-2 sterile florets, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating below the glumes, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glume equal to or longer than spikelet, Glumes 3 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 5-7 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins inrolled, tightly covering palea and caryopsis, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea about equal to lemma, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis, Caryopsis ellipsoid, longit udinally grooved, hilum long-linear.

Panicum abscissum is a species of grass known by the common name cutthroat grass. It is endemic to Florida in the United States. It is limited to five counties in the central Florida peninsula.

This species is a rhizomatous perennial grass with stems growing up to 70 centimetres (2.3 feet) tall. The leaves are up to 25 centimetres (9.8 inches) long and the ligule is very short. There are small terminal and axillary panicles bearing flowers. The panicles are purple in color. The spikelets are just a few millimeters in length. Most of the plant's growth occurs in March through June. It blooms most heavily after a fire, and rarely blooms in the absence of fire.

This grass grows in seepage bogs on the Lake Wales Ridge and other ridges in central Florida, an area of high plant endemism. It occurs on moist slopes that receive moisture from areas at higher elevation. It may be found near ponds in Florida scrub, or scrubby habitat, and in marshy flatwoods. Cutthroat grass communities are heavily dominated by the cutthroat grass species. They occur in a number of habitat types, but all are dependent on wildfire for their natural maintenance. Fire keeps the open grassland free of large and woody vegetation. The most distinctive cutthroat grass community is the cutthroat seepage slope, a range of microhabitat types defined by elevation and the water table.

Most occurrences of the plant are within Polk and Highlands Counties. A large grass community exists in an area of remaining native habitat on the Avon Park Air Force Range.