Bigleaf Bristlegrass

Panicum palmifolium Willdenow ex Poiret (1816) is a nomen novum for the illegitimate later homonym P. plicatum Willdenow (1809), not Lamarck (1791), but is itself illegitimate as a later homonym of P. palmifolium J. König (1788). Both Chaemaeraphis palmifolia and Chaetochloa palmifolia are based on P. palmifolium Willdenow ex Poiret, but must be treated as nomina nova rather than new combinations.

This species is used for food and medicine.

Perennials; clums caespitose, 60-100 cm tall, with short rhizome. Blade lanceolate, pubescent below, to 40 cm long, to 6.5 cm wide, plicate; sheath keeled, papillose-hispid; ligule a ring of hairs, 1.5- 2 mm long. Panicle loose, as much as 40 cm long, spikelets crowded, branches extending into bristles of 5-15 mm long; main axis nearly glabrous. Spikelets 3-4 mm long, lanceolate, acute; glumes and lower lemma with margins hyaline; lower glume 3-5-veined, ovate, 1/3-1/2 as long as spikelet; upper glume ovate, 5-7-veined, 1/2 to as long as spikelet; lower lemma 5-veined, acuminate, with a short incurved point, enclosing a hyaline lower palea; upper lemma ovate, faintly and transversely rugose, mucronate, shiny; anther ca.1.4 mm long.

Perennial from a short knotty rhizome. Culms erect or slightly geniculate, 75–200 cm tall, 3–7(–10) mm in diam. Leaf sheaths usually sparsely hispid, margins tuberculate-ciliate near ligule, otherwise glabrous; leaf blades fusiform-lanceolate, plicate, 20–60 × 2–7 cm, glabrous or hispid, narrowed toward base, apex acuminate; ligule 2–3 mm, ciliate. Panicle 20–60 × 2–10 cm, branches up to 20 cm, laxly spreading, flexuous, some spikelets subtended by a single 5–15 mm bristle. Spikelets broadly lanceolate, 3–4 mm, acute; lower glume triangular-ovate, 1/3–1/2 as long as spikelet, obtuse to acute; upper glume ovate, 1/2–3/4 as long as spikelet, 5–7-veined, acute; lower lemma neuter, often distinctly longer than upper floret, 5-veined, tipped with a short incurved beak; lower palea narrow, hyaline, 2/3 as long as lemma; upper lemma indistinctly rugulose to almost smooth, slightly shiny, apex apiculate, green and compressed. Fl. and fr. Aug–Dec. 2n = 36, 54.

Tropics of Old World, introduced in the New World.

Tropics of the Old World. Taiwan, in shady places.

300-1800 m

Open forests, thicket margins, shady pathsides. Anhui, Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Sichuan, Taiwan, Xizang, Yunnan, Zhejiang [W Africa, tropical Asia].

Panicum palmifolium J. König, Naturforscher. 23: 208. 1788.

Panicum palmifolium J. König, Naturforscher 23: 208. 1788 ["palmaefolium"]; Chamaeraphis palmifolia Kuntze; Chaetochloa palmifolia Hitchcock & Chase; Panicum neurodes Schultes; P. palmifolium Willdenow ex Poiret (1816), not J. Konig (1788); P. plicatum Willdenow (1809), not Lamarck (1791).