Basal blades 2-6 cm, evenly pilose. Culms more than 1 mm thick,
stiff; lower internodes sparsely pubescent, with ascending or appressed
hairs, hairs shorter than 4 mm, not papillose-based. Cauline sheaths
with sparse, ascending or appressed hairs, hairs shorter than 4 mm, often with
shorter hairs underneath, not papillose-based; ligules 1-4 mm; blades
3-8 mm wide, both surfaces sparsely appressed-pubescent, margins ciliate basally,
scabridulous elsewhere. Spikelets 2.1-2.6 mm, ellipsoid or obovoid-ellipsoid,
with papillose-based hairs.
Dichanthelium ovale subsp. pseudopubescens grows in dry, sandy,
open woods, sandhills, and sand dunes, over the same geographic range and in
the same habitats as subsp. villosissimum, and often intergrades morphologically with that subspecies.
Basal blades 3-7 cm, evenly long pilose. Culms more than 1 mm thick,
stiff, often decumbent or prostrate in the fall; internodes with soft,
spreading or retrorse, papillose-based hairs, hairs longer than 4 mm. Cauline
sheaths with soft, spreading or retrorse hairs, hairs longer than 4 mm,
papillose-based; ligules 2-5 mm; blades 6-10 mm wide, both surfaces
densely pilose, hairs longer than 4 mm, margins short-ciliate basally, scabridulous
and faintly whitish elsewhere. Spikelets 2.1-2.5 mm, usually ellipsoid,
with dense, spreading, papillose-based hairs. Lower glumes 1/3-1/2 as
long as the spikelets, usually acute. 2n = 18.
Dichanthelium ovale subsp. villosissimum grows in dry, sandy, open
pine and oak woodlands. It and subsp. pseudopubescens are the most common and widespread subspecies throughout the eastern United
States. The range of subsp. villosissimum extends to Mexico, Honduras,
Guatemala, and Nicaragua. It grades into the less pubescent subsp. pseudopubescens,
and occasional specimens with smaller spikelets approach D. acuminatum
subsp. acuminatum, which is
usually densely grayish, velvety-pubescent.
Culms ±clustered, erect or ascending, 1-3 dm at first anthesis, soon elongating to as much as 6 dm, evidently papillose-pilose with spreading or retrorse hairs 1-5 mm, as also the sheaths; ligule a band of hairs 3-5 mm; blades 3-10 cm נ3-13 mm, ±papillose-pilose on both sides; primary panicle on a papillose-hairy to glabrate peduncle, 2-6 cm, ovoid, with widely divergent branches, its axis pilose to glabrate; spikelets finely hairy, ellipsoid or oblong-obovoid, 1.5-2.5 mm; first glume triangular- ovate, acute, 0.7-1.4 mm, a third to three-fifths as long as the spikelet; fr 1.5-2 mm, half or two-thirds as wide; autumnal phase developing early, the lateral branches and often the secondary panicles visible before the primary panicle has completed anthesis; branches several from the middle and lower nodes, the stems widely spreading or prostrate and often geniculate at the lower nodes, the scarcely reduced lvs equaling or surpassing the small panicles; 2n=18. Dry, especially sandy soil, open woods, and prairies; Mass. to Minn. and Kans., s. to Fla. and Tex. (P. benneri; P. praecocius; P. pseudopubescens; P. scoparioides, a less hairy or subglabrate phase, perhaps of hybrid origin; P. subvillosum; Dichanthelium acuminatum var. villosum)
Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.