Leiberg's Rosette Grass

Panicum leibergii (Vasey) Scribn.; Nash, in Britt. & Brown,
111. Fl. 3: 497. 1898.
Panicum scoparium Leibergii Vasey, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Bot. 8: 32. 1889.
Panicum Scribnerianum Leibergii Scribn. ; T. A. Williams, Bull. U. S. Dep. Agr. Agrost. 6:*32. 1897.
Milium Leibergii Uinell, Am. Midi. Nat. 4: 213. 1915.
Vernal phase dull-green, in clumps of few to several slender culms, 25-75 cm. high, erect from a more or less geniculate base, pilose to merely scabrous; leaf-sheaths shorter than the internodes, papillose-hispid with spreading hairs; ligule almost obsolete; blades ascending or erect, rather thin, 6-15 cm. long, 7-15 mm. wide, narrowed toward the rounded base, acuminate, papillose-hispid on both surfaces, often sparsely so above, papillose-ciliate from one third to half their length; panicles finally long-exserted, 8-15 cm. long, less than half as wide, the flexuous branches narrowly ascending or somewhat spreading at anthesis; spikelets 3.7-4 mm. long, 1.8-2 mm. wide, oblong-obovate, turgid, strongly papillose-hispid with spreading hairs; first glume more than half the length of the spikelet, pointed; second glume and sterile lemma subequal, covering the fruit at maturity or the lemma slightly exceeding it; fruit 3 mm. long, 1.7-1.8 mm. wide, obovate-oval.
Autumnal phase more or less leaning, sparingly branching from the middle and lower nodes late in summer, the branches mostly simple, erect, the blades scarcely reduced, usually exceeding the short-exserted panicles.
Type locality: Plymouth County, Iowa.
Distribution: New York' to Manitoba, and south to Ohio and Kansas.