Perennial herb, with 3 - 5 mm thick rhizomes, forming large clumps 0.5 - 1.4 m tall
Inflorescence: a terminal, branched arrangement of spikelets (panicle). Primary panicles atop the culms, 8 - 16 cm long, 4 - 12 mm wide, exserted, with many spikelets. Secondary panicles (when present) atop the branches.
Fruit: a caryopsis, indehiscent, enclosed within the persistent lemma and palea.
Culm: stout, 0.5 - 1.4 m long, round in cross-section, hollow, nearly hairless to softly hairy with bumpy-based hairs. Nodes sometimes sparsely hairy. Fall phase branching from the mid- and upper culm nodes, sparsely rebranching, with overlapping sheaths and concealed secondary panicles.
Spikelets: 2.5 - 3.5 mm long, 1 - 1.5 mm wide, narrowly ellipsoid, pointed, prominently veined, sparsely hairy.
Basal leaves: in a rosette. Sheaths hairy. Blades shortly egg-shaped to lance-shaped, distinct from stem blades.
Stem leaves: five to ten, alternate, two-ranked. Sheaths not overlapping, usually shorter than internodes, tapering above mid-length, ribbed, pale-spotted and mottled at the apex, hairy (sometimes with bumpy-based hairs), fringed with hairs. Ligules 0.5 - 1 mm long, membranous. Blades rigid, distinctly longer and narrower than basal leaves, 10 - 25 cm long, 1.5 - 3 cm wide, lance-shaped with a heart-shaped base and pointed tip, flat, many-veined, sometimes sparsely hairy, fringed with bumpy-based hairs basally.
Glumes:: Lower glumes one-third to one-half as long as spikelets, narrowly triangular, veined. Upper glumes a bit shorter than spikelets, rounded to pointed at the apex, with seven to nine prominent veins.
Lemmas:: Lower lemmas similar to upper glumes. Upper lemmas longitudinally lined, shiny, with rolled-up margins above.
Paleas:: Lower paleas shorter than lower lemmas, thin. Upper paleas longitudinally lined.
Florets:: Lower florets sterile, a bit shorter than spikelets, with seven to nine prominent veins. Upper florets bisexual, stalkless, minutely tufted at the apex, plump. Anthers three. Stigmas red.
Similar species: No information at this time.
Flowering: June to early July
Habitat and ecology: Common in sandy and somewhat acid soils in moist shaded ground. It also occurs in drier sandy soils. Often found in sandy areas along streams. A hybrid with Dichanthelium depauperatum was found in LaPorte County, Indiana.
Occurence in the Chicago region: native
Etymology: Dichanthelium comes from the Greek words di, meaning twice, and anth, meaning flowering, referring to plants that may have two flowering periods. Clandestinum means hidden.
Author: The Morton Arboretum