Panicum dichotomiflorumMichx.

Fall Panic Grassautumn milletfall panicgrass

WFO wfo-0000883879 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Panicum dichotomiflorum, photographed by Agnes Trekker
fig. a Agnes Trekker, CC0 1.0 / 2021-11-21 / obs. 170388754

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.

The specimen a real sheet, in a real collection

Herbarium
The New York Botanical Garden
Accession
1166539
Filed as
Panicum dichotomiflorum Michx.
Det. by
G. Davidse 1988-01-01
Collected
T. C. Plowman 1982-12-13
Origin
BR
The sheet
View the digitised specimen (CC BY 4.0)

A real pressed plant, in a real collection, under the accession number above. Not an illustration of one. The holding institution does not serve this sheet’s image to third parties, so there is no photograph here. The record is real and the link goes to it. Where we hold no openly licensed sheet for a species this section is simply absent, and where a sheet never recorded who determined it, that field stays empty rather than being filled in. Roughly half of all herbarium sheets never recorded a determiner, which is ordinary.

Native range 88 botanical countries

Regions where Panicum dichotomiflorum is native: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Nova Scotia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ontario, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Québec, Rhode I., South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Argentina Northeast, Bahamas, Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Chile Central, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, French Guiana, Galápagos, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Leeward Is., Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Uruguay, Venezuela AlabamaArizonaArkansasBritish ColumbiaCaliforniaColoradoConnecticutFloridaGeorgiaIdahoIllinoisIndianaIowaKansasKentuckyLouisianaMaineMarylandMassachusettsMexico CentralMexico NortheastMexico NorthwestMexico SoutheastMexico SouthwestMichiganMinnesotaMississippiMissouriMontanaNebraskaNevadaNew BrunswickNew HampshireNew JerseyNew MexicoNew YorkNorth CarolinaNova ScotiaOhioOklahomaOntarioOregonPennsylvaniaQuébecSouth CarolinaSouth DakotaTennesseeTexasUtahVermontVirginiaWashingtonWest VirginiaWisconsinArgentina NortheastBoliviaBrazil NorthBrazil NortheastBrazil SouthBrazil SoutheastBrazil West-CentralChile CentralColombiaCosta RicaCubaDominican RepublicFrench GuianaGuyanaHaitiHondurasJamaicaNicaraguaPanamáParaguayPeruPuerto RicoSurinameTrinidad-TobagoUruguayVenezuela DelawareDistrict of ColumbiaRhode I.BahamasBermudaGalápagosLeeward Is.Turks-Caicos Is.
Native distribution of Panicum dichotomiflorum, 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
Arizona ARI
Arkansas ARK
British Columbia BRC
California CAL
Colorado COL
Connecticut CNT
Delaware DEL
District of Columbia WDC
Florida FLA
Georgia GEO
Idaho IDA
Illinois ILL
Indiana INI
Iowa IOW
Kansas KAN
Kentucky KTY
Louisiana LOU
Maine MAI
Maryland MRY
Massachusetts MAS
Mexico Central MXC
Mexico Northeast MXE
Mexico Northwest MXN
Mexico Southeast MXT
Mexico Southwest MXS
Michigan MIC
Minnesota MIN
Mississippi MSI
Missouri MSO
Montana MNT
Nebraska NEB
Nevada NEV
New Brunswick NBR
New Hampshire NWH
New Jersey NWJ
New Mexico NWM
New York NWY
North Carolina NCA
Nova Scotia NSC
Ohio OHI
Oklahoma OKL
Ontario ONT
Oregon ORE
Pennsylvania PEN
Québec QUE
Rhode I. RHO
South Carolina SCA
South Dakota SDA
Tennessee TEN
Texas TEX
Utah UTA
Vermont VER
Virginia VRG
Washington WAS
West Virginia WVA
Wisconsin WIS
Argentina Northeast AGE SOUTHERN AMERICA
Bahamas BAH
Bermuda BER
Bolivia BOL
Brazil North BZN
Brazil Northeast BZE
Brazil South BZS
Brazil Southeast BZL
Brazil West-Central BZC
Chile Central CLC
Colombia CLM
Costa Rica COS
Cuba CUB
Dominican Republic DOM
French Guiana FRG
Galápagos GAL
Guyana GUY
Haiti HAI
Honduras HON
Jamaica JAM
Leeward Is. LEE
Nicaragua NIC
Panamá PAN
Paraguay PAR
Peru PER
Puerto Rico PUE
Suriname SUR
Trinidad-Tobago TRT
Turks-Caicos Is. TCI
Uruguay URU
Venezuela VEN

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.

Flowering 30 in flower of 66 examined

Proportion of examined Panicum dichotomiflorum in flower, by month
Month In flower Examined Share 95% interval
Jan 0 1 too few examined
Feb 3 5 60% 23% to 88%
Mar 2 4 too few examined
Apr 0 1 too few examined
May 1 1 too few examined
Jun 0 3 too few examined
Jul 1 1 too few examined
Aug 6 10 60% 31% to 83%
Sep 13 26 50% 32% to 68%
Oct 3 11 27% 10% to 57%
Nov 0 0 too few examined
Dec 1 3 too few examined

Peak flowering in Feb. Each bar is the share of Panicum dichotomiflorum observations in which someone actually recorded the reproductive state and found the plant in flower, not the raw number of flowering records. That distinction matters: people observe plants far more in spring than in winter, so a bare count of flowering records partly measures when people go outside. Dividing by the number examined removes that. 30 of 66 examined observations were in flower, every one of them research grade. The whisker on each bar is a 95% Wilson interval. 8 months have fewer than 5 examined observations, so no proportion is drawn for them. This is still a global aggregate and not a forecast for your garden: the same species flowers on different dates in different hemispheres. Where a species has fewer than 30 flowering records we do not draw this chart at all. Computed from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Where it actually grows measured, from 1,372 observations

Condition 5th percentile Median 95th percentile
Coldest month, mean daily low -12.4 °C -2.2 °C 8.4 °C
Warmest month, mean daily high 22.2 °C 28.7 °C 34.8 °C
Annual rainfall 761 mm 1,075 mm 1,499 mm
Rainfall in the driest quarter 80 mm 200 mm 294 mm

It is found where winters bring hard 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 1,372 research-grade observations of Panicum dichotomiflorum 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. Climate from CHELSA V2.1 (Karger et al. 2017); occurrences from 10.15468/dl.cgje2x.

Also published as 36 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.

  • Leptoloma dichotomiflorum (Michx.) Smyth
  • Panicum alternatum Brouss.
  • Panicum ammophilum Trin. ex Nees
  • Panicum amplectens Chapm.
  • Panicum aquaticum var. cartagoense Davidse
  • Panicum aquaticum var. chloroticum (Nees ex Trin.) R.C.Foster
  • Panicum brachiatum Bosc ex Spreng.
  • Panicum chloroticum Nees
  • Panicum chloroticum Nees ex Trin.
  • Panicum chloroticum var. agreste Nees
  • Panicum chloroticum var. luxurians Nees ex Döll
  • Panicum chloroticum var. pingue Nees
  • Panicum chloroticum var. silvestre Nees
  • Panicum chloroticum var. sylvestre Nees
  • Panicum dichotomiflorum subsp. dichotomiflorum
  • Panicum dichotomiflorum subsp. puritanorum (Svenson) Freckmann & Lelong
  • Panicum dichotomiflorum var. chloroticum (Nees ex Trin.) B.Bock
  • Panicum dichotomiflorum var. dichotomiflorum
  • Panicum dichotomiflorum var. geniculatum Fernald
  • Panicum dichotomiflorum var. imperiorum Fernald
  • Panicum dichotomiflorum var. imperiorum Fernald
  • Panicum dichotomiflorum var. imperium Fernald
  • Panicum dichotomiflorum var. puritanorum Svenson
  • Panicum elliottii S.Watson

and 12 more.

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.