Species: Panicum virgatum var. virgatum L.

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Panicum virgatum var. virgatum L.

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TAXONOMY

Family:

Poaceae

Genus:

Panicum

Species Synonyms:

Panicum virgatum var. cubense Griseb.
Panicum virgatum var. obtusum Wood

Common Names:

switchgrass

DISTRIBUTION

Canada:

southeastern Saskatchewan – southern Manitoba, southern Ontario – southwestern Quebec, western Nova Scotia

Saskatchewan:

southeastern Saskatchewan; Souris River Valley – Moose Mountain Creek Valley – Antler River Valley

Ecoregion:

Moist Mixed Grassland, Aspen Parkland

HABITAT

Saskatchewan:

moist meadows

Associated Species:

big bluestem, little bluestem, prairie dropseed, prairie goldenrod

RARITY STATUS

Provincial Status According
to Harms (2003):

Vulnerable

Nature Conservancy Status:

G5 S2

Saskatchewan Species at
Risk Status:

None

COSEWIC Status:

None

Switchgrass is vulnerable because it is rare or uncommon in Saskatchewan. It is restricted to one general region of the province and most local populations are small. Possible threats have been identified for this species.

SPECIES DESCRIPTION

Height:

40 – 300 cm

Roots:

rhizomes long, hard, with overlapping scales, occasionally short or knotty

Stems:

3 – 5 mm wide, solitary or tufted, erect or bent at base, internodes green or purplish

Leaves:

blades 10 – 60 cm long, 2 – 15 mm wide, flat, ascending or spreading, hairless or hairy; sheaths longer than lower internodes, white to purplish-tinged, distinctly veined, hairless or long-hairy; ligules 2 – 6 mm long, membranous; ear-like lobes at the base of the leaf absent

Inflorescence:

10 – 50 cm long, 4 – 20 cm wide, branches thin and solitary to bundled

Spikelets:

3 – 8 mm long, 1 – 2.5 mm wide, slightly laterally compressed, hairless, tip pointed, lower florets male-flowered

Flowers:

lower glumes membranous, 5 – 9-veined, hairless, awnless; upper glumes and lower lemmas 7 – 11-veined, awnless; paleas hardened

Fruits:

grain

PANICUM KEY FOR SPECIES FOUND IN SASKATCHEWAN

1 Plants perennial; rhizomes long, scaly; lower florets male-flowered	P. virgatum var. virgatum
1 Plants annual or perennial; rhizomes absent; lower florets sterile	2

2 Spikelets 4 – 7 mm long; inflorescence arching, not diffuse	P. miliaceum
2 Spikelets 1 – 4 mm long; inflorescence erect, diffuse	P. capillare