Panicum amarumElliott

bitter panicgrass

WFO wfo-0000882966 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Panicum amarum, photographed by Scott Allen Davis
fig. a Scott Allen Davis, CC BY 4.0 / 2021-12-10 / obs. 171964663
Panicum amarum, photographed by natalie
fig. b natalie, CC0 1.0 / obs. 116286345
Panicum amarum, photographed by Steven Bodzin
fig. c Steven Bodzin, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 47911523
Panicum amarum, photographed by Jessica
fig. d Jessica, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 47074864
Panicum amarum, photographed by Sam Kieschnick
fig. e Sam Kieschnick, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 32108906
Panicum amarum, photographed by Lexi Adams
fig. f Lexi Adams, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 14485550
Panicum amarum, photographed by Dilrukshan Priyantha Wijesinghe
fig. g Dilrukshan Priyantha Wijesinghe, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 10083163
Panicum amarum, photographed by Ashwin Srinivasan
fig. h Ashwin Srinivasan, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 57984563

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 29 botanical countries

Regions where Panicum amarum is native: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Southeast, Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode I., South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Bahamas, Belize, Bermuda, Cuba, Honduras, Jamaica AlabamaConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaLouisianaMarylandMassachusettsMexico GulfMexico NortheastMexico SoutheastMississippiNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaOklahomaPennsylvaniaSouth CarolinaTexasVirginiaWest VirginiaBelizeCubaHondurasJamaica DelawareRhode I.BahamasBermuda
Native distribution of Panicum amarum, 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
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Louisiana LOU
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Gulf MXG
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mississippi MSI
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Oklahoma OKL
Pennsylvania PEN
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
Texas TEX
Virginia VRG
West Virginia WVA
Bahamas BAH SOUTHERN AMERICA
Belize BLZ
Bermuda BER
Cuba CUB
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM

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 782 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -2.4 °C 10.9 °C 17.2 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 26.1 °C 29.4 °C 30.7 °C
Annual rainfall 716 mm 1,294 mm 1,637 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 111 mm 232 mm 336 mm

It is found where winters bring light frost. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 782 research-grade observations of Panicum amarum 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.

  • Chasea amara (Elliott) Nieuwl.
  • Panicum amaroides Scribn. & Merr.
  • Panicum amarulum Hitchc. & Chase
  • Panicum amarum subsp. amarulum (Hitchc. & Chase) Freckmann & Lelong
  • Panicum amarum subsp. amarum
  • Panicum amarum var. amarulum (Hitchc. & Chase) P.G.Palmer
  • Panicum amarum var. amarum
  • Panicum amarum var. minus Vasey & Scribn.

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.