woodoats

Chasmanthium Link

A genus overview; characteristics vary between its species.

Chasmanthium gives grasses a distinctive kind of ornament: flattened spikelets, each built from overlapping floral structures. The genus includes perennial plants with either tufted growth or spreading rhizomes. Leaves line the stems rather than forming only a basal tuft, and their blades range from narrow to broad across the genus. Even without bright petals, the repeated shapes of the spikelets give the flowering stems a clear pattern. Watson, Macfarlane and Dallwitz: Grass genera of the world, Chasmanthium

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Botanical name

Kew accepts Chasmanthium Link, including former Gouldochloa; the profile remains at genus rank. Kew POWO: Chasmanthium Link

Recognizing the plant

The flowering array can be open and branched or narrow and contracted. Individual spikelets contain fertile florets along with reduced or sterile ones; as they mature, they can separate between the florets. Members differ considerably in leaf width and in how closely their spikelets are packed. The narrower-leaved Chasmanthium curvifolium, for example, has an especially contracted panicle, illustrating why the whole genus cannot be reduced to one broad-leaved garden form. Watson, Macfarlane and Dallwitz: Grass genera of the world, ChasmanthiumKew GrassBase: Chasmanthium curvifolium

Native range

The collective native range extends from central Canada across central and eastern portions of the United States into northeastern Mexico. Botanical accounts include habitats from moist woodland to drier scrub. Kew POWO: Chasmanthium LinkWatson, Macfarlane and Dallwitz: Grass genera of the world, Chasmanthium