Dichanthelium ovale(Elliott) Gould & C.A.Clark

eggleaf rosette grass

WFO wfo-0000863486 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 4 observations

This species has been photographed under an open licence only 4 times, so some figures below are different views of the same plant, taken on the same day, rather than different individuals. They are usually different parts of it: the leaf, the flower, the bark.

Dichanthelium ovale, photographed by Athena Philips
fig. a Athena Philips, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-06-08 / obs. 135142887
Dichanthelium ovale, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. b Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204238255
Dichanthelium ovale, photographed by Scott Ward
fig. c Scott Ward, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 140187951
Dichanthelium ovale, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. d Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 204238278
Dichanthelium ovale, photographed by Scott Ward
fig. e Scott Ward, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 140187984
Dichanthelium ovale, photographed by Athena Philips
fig. f Athena Philips, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 135143233
Dichanthelium ovale, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. g Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 123120851
Dichanthelium ovale, photographed by Jay Horn
fig. h Jay Horn, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 123120872

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 38 botanical countries

Regions where Dichanthelium ovale is native: Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Puerto Rico AlabamaArkansasConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIllinoisIndianaIowaKentuckyLouisianaMarylandMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMinnesotaMississippiMissouriNew JerseyNew YorkNorth CarolinaNorth DakotaOhioOklahomaOntarioPennsylvaniaSouth CarolinaTennesseeTexasVirginiaDominican RepublicGuatemalaHaitiHondurasPuerto Rico DelawareDistrict of Columbia
Native distribution of Dichanthelium ovale, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows. Regions too small to draw at this scale are marked with a dot.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Alabama ALA NORTHERN AMERICA
Arkansas ARK
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
Minnesota MIN
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
New Jersey NWJ
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
North Dakota NDA
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Pennsylvania PEN
South Carolina SCA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Virginia VRG
Dominican Republic DOM SOUTHERN AMERICA
Guatemala GUA
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Puerto Rico PUE

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Where it actually grows measured, from 31 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low 7.4 °C 11.0 °C 16.7 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 30.4 °C 31.8 °C 32.3 °C
Annual rainfall 1,280 mm 1,337 mm 1,544 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 144 mm 181 mm 238 mm

It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 31 research-grade observations of Dichanthelium ovale that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.

This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.

Also published as 8 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Panicum alabamense Ashe
  • Panicum benneri Fernald
  • Panicum ciliferum Nash
  • Panicum ciliiferum Nash
  • Panicum erythrocarpum Ashe
  • Panicum ovale Elliott
  • Panicum ovatum Steud.
  • Panicum villosum Elliott

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
  4. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.