Tumblegrass

Schedonnardus paniculatus (Nutt.) Trel. in Bran. & Cov Rep. Geol. Surv. Ark. 1888'': 236. 1891.
Leplurus paniculatus Nutt. Gen. 1: 81. 1818.
Roltboellia paniculata Spreng. Syst. 1: 300. 1825. (Based on Lepturus paniculatus Nutt.) Schedonnardus texanus Steud. Syn. Gram. 146. 1854. (Type from Texas, Drummond 360.) Spirochloi paniculata Lunell, Am. Midi. Nat. 4: 220. 1915. (Based on Lepturus paniculatus Nutt.)
Culms erect from a decumbent base, freely branching at the lower nodes, 15-50 cm. tall, leaves crowded toward the base; sheaths keeled, scaberulous; ligule membranaceous, 2 mm. long; blades firm, flat, wavy, scabrous on the margins, 2-5 cm. long, 1 mm. wide; inflorescence 10-30 cm. long, the a.xis straight or usually curved; spikes stiffly and abruptly spreading, the lowermost 6-9 cm. long, the upper successively shorter; spikelets 4 mm. long, scarcely overlapping; glumes very scabrous on the keels, the first 2 mm. long, the second 3-3.5 mm. long; lemma about 4 mm. long, acute, scabrous toward the tip, more or less pubescent near the base.
Type LOCALitv: Mandan, North Dakota.
Distribution: Plains and prairies, Minnesota to Saskatchewan and Montana, and southward to Louisiana and Arizona; also in Argentina.

Perennials, Terrestrial, not aquatic, Stems nodes swollen or brittle, Stems geniculate, decumbent, or lax, sometimes rooting at nodes, Stems caespitose, tufted, or clustered, Stems terete, round in cross section, or polygonal, Stem internodes hollow, Stems with inflorescence less than 1 m tall, Stems, culms, or scapes exceeding basal leaves, Leaves mostly basal, below middle of stem, Leaves conspicuously 2-ranked, distichous, Leaves sheathing at base, Leaf sheath mostly open, or loose, Leaf sheath smooth, glabrous, Leaf sheath or blade keeled, Leaf sheath and blade differentiated, Leaf blades linear, Leaf blades very narrow or filiform, less than 2 mm wide, Leaf blades mostly flat, 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 solitary, with 1 spike, fascicle, glomerule, head, or cluster per stem or culm, Inflorescence a panicle with narrowly racemose or spicate branches, Inflorescence with 2-10 branches, Inflorescence branches more than 10 to numerous, Inflorescence branches 1-sided, Flowers bisexual, Spikelets sessile or subsessile, Spikelets laterally compressed, Spikelet less than 3 mm wide, Spikelets with 1 fertile floret, Spikelets solitary at rachis nodes, Spikelets all alike and fertille, Spikelets bisexual, Spikelets disarticulating above the glumes, g lumes persistent, Spikelets falling with parts of disarticulating rachis or pedicel, Entire inflorescence falling intact, as a tumbleweed, Spikelets secund, in rows on one side of rachis, Spikelets closely appressed or embedded in concave portions of axis, Rachilla or pedicel glabrous, Glumes present, empty bracts, Glumes 2 clearly present, Glumes distinctly unequal, Glumes equal to or longer than adjacent lemma, Glumes keeled or winged, Glumes 1 nerved, Lemma similar in texture to glumes, Lemma 3 nerved, Lemma glabrous, Lemma apex acute or acuminate, Lemma awnless, Lemma margins thin, lying flat, Lemma straight, Palea present, well developed, Palea membranous, hyaline, Palea about equal to lemma, Palea 2 nerved or 2 keeled, Stamens 3, Styles 2-fid, deeply 2-branched, Stigmas 2, Fruit - caryopsis.